A Clockwork Before the End
by XanXan01
Summary: With the mansion under construction the professor calls on an old friend for help in the fight against the Hellfire club only to be dragged into a free for all sibling battle for a throne that grants immortality. AU First fanfiction so CC is asked
1. Prologue to the End

**Disclaimer!: I only own the original characters and the X-Squad. The X-Men, the first generation X-men, the Team-X, the Junior X-Men, the Brotherhood and Hellfire Club are own by Marvel. First fanfiction so CC is appreciated and flames are useful for my pyromatic tendencies. Please remember this is an AU ficlet that involves a buch of OCs off the bat to thicken this plot. Also this is done by a very violent 14 year old girl that writes only cause she is extremly bored so don't expect much from the story...not only that said 14 year old gets buried in homework every week and always seems to lose sleep doing it so some errors are here.**

**A Clockwork Before the End**

**Prologue: Beginning of the End**

"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't

own it, but you can use it. You can't keep

it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it

you can never get it back."

-Harvey MacKay

* * *

><p><em>The screams of mutants filled the air as two flames- one golden and the other pure black- clashed. <em>

_Go to your left ___a cool soothing voice commanded in her head. The voice was calm and made Rogue want to sleep but she ignored the tugging desire and she changed directions, bolting into the direction the voice had told her to.__

_Just a little farther ___it urged. An arrow burning with golden flames was at the edge of the tree line. Rogue grabbed it ignoring the immediate pain she felt from the arrow and moved back into the direction of a battle of the two flames. __

__She raised the arrow as soon as she broke into the clearing of the battle. At her right was a man with crimson hair and a mask covering the bottom half of his face. At her left was a woman with long blond hair and a chest that made her feel self-conscious about herself. Next to the woman a was another man with crimson hair but unlike the one with the mask he had a wild and selfish aura surrounding himself. Next to him was a a man with shoulder black hair that was pulled into a pony tail. Next to him was a small girl with a pony tail on the side of her head, her hair was a light brown. To the masked man's right was a blonde male that watched her with an intense gaze that under any other circumstance would've made her blush like it always did. Lastly to his right was another male except this one had curly shoulder length hair the same shade as the light brown haired girl's. Each were around the clearing with a few feet separating them from each other.__

__They were each in their own colored flame. The man in a mask had a violet flame, the busty female's was blue, the other red head man had a crimson flame, the black haired male's was an electric green, the small girl's was a wispy light blue, the one that was was watching her was a bright cheerful orange, and the curly brown haired man had a near clear flame that was outlined with a dull gray.__

__She took one more step forward and threw the golden flamed arrow into the center of the field while yelling...__

**A few months before this incident**

"What is happened here?" Charles Xavier asked as he watched his mansion burn. Silently he was thanking Sean who had convinced him that the students should go into town for a field trip to the park so they can get accustom of their surrounding area in case of an emergency. He was currently addressing the students that were left behind due to the fact they were the only ones who he thought had enough self-control and had enough experience with being in New York. These people are the Junior X-Men.

"Well...I sorta got into a fight with Kitty..." Rogue mumbled as she looked at her feet nervously.

"And that got ya to burn the mansion down, kid?" Wolverine's gruff voice asked as he dropped his cigarette and crushed it underfoot at the Beast's warning gaze.

"Well...actually we didn't argue...more like I ran through walls and floors as Rogue tried to catch me so she can reason with me...I ran into the kitchen and I think I messed up the oven when I ran through it or something..." Kitty said as she watched Colossus run across the lawn with Northstar tossed over his shoulder. Her lips curled in disgust when he put Jean down on the ground near them and made sure he was not injured. Only she also witnessed a comforting kiss between the two.

Suddenly the flames began to whip around violently as the wind picked up. Everyone covered their eyes as dirt was drown in every direction. Just as quick the wind had appeared the wind disappeared as if it didn't exist. On the lawn in front of them was a jet that strangely resembled Air Force 1. The a set of stairs fell and touched the ground when a door was released.

"Whoa, Charles! I didn't think that coming to visit you would mean having to offer you and your students a place to stay!" A cheerful voice said as a dark man happily walked down the steps. The man had black hair and tanned skin, he was wearing a plain black t-shirt that was obviously too tight for him because it stretched over his muscles like a second skin. Shorts and sneakers added to the laid back look. He had a carefree grin on his face.

"Andy?" The professor asked with a surprised tone.

"Yep that's my name don't wear it out!" Andy replied as he bounded up to the group and he planted a huge kiss on the professor's cheek stunning everyone but the professor himself.

The professor only wiped his cheek and commented, "Andy you haven't changed a day since I last saw you."

"You know me Xavier! Just sharing the love seeing how you look a little pissed and sad at the same time!" Andy smile was blinding.

"You said you can offer us a place to stay?"

"Yep! The only thing you have to deal with is that it is out of state and you have to deal with another bunch of teenagers and my Princess." he replied to the question instantly like he knew what Charles Xavier was going to say.

"Princess?" The professor fired the question back with the same speed.

"The mansion I live in belongs to her. She saved my life so I swore to her I'll be the one to protect her." The professor only nodded at that response as he thought about it.

"I'll start making calls to parents seeing if they will allow their kid to go out of state. If not then I'll let the kid stay with their parents or guardians. I'll take any students with me to your 'princess's' mansion if you will allow it."

"Of course Charles! I owe you one form the time when you saved my butt back in Cuba!"

"Chuck, ya ain't concerned over the mansion?" Wolverine sounded surprised as Andy handed his cell phone to the professor.

"Of course I am not." Charles said. "What is done is done, it cannot be undone and I have bigger matters that are far more important to worry about right now." he dismissed him with a wave as he called the fire department.

About half an hour later, several fire trucks were in front of the mansion putting out the flames. Several other cars were also there taking their kid out of that place immediately, fearing the media would come and so a story on the fact a mutant school was right under other people noses for quiet a while now.

This continued with the fire fighters putting out the fire and parents getting their kids until only the X-Men, the Junior X-Men, and the first generation X-Men were left.

"Are you guys finished?" Andy said as he appeared from the forest. Charles had recommended that he moved the jet into the forest so people wouldn't suspect a thing.

"Yes, I even contacted the building company. They agreed that they would rebuild the mansion without question, but they claim it may take a few months to even get a part of it finished."

"You can stay at my Princess's mansion for as long as it takes! Ever since I mentioned you and the old team to her, she has been on my case to meeting you guys." He replied his smile widening, if that was even possible.

"...Remy has ah feelin' he might love this gal, this guy a'ores **(A/N total fail at Cajun accent)**." Remy announced as Andy went on to how much he has told his Princess about the first generation.


	2. Beginning of the End

**A Clockwork Before the End**

**Beginning to the End**

"Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, falling in love with you however...I had no control over that."

-Unknown

**Skipping the Plane Ride**

"Up here!" Andy excitedly pointed out different portraits that look old and from what Andy was rambling on about were all the originals.

"How long until we get to meet your princess?" Storm asked politely as they made their way down the hall. It was about midnight and the two maids that lived and worked here were both in the kitchen from what Andy had claimed. Andy glanced back at her and said, "I'm taking you guys to her right now...she normally is still awake at this time."

Eyebrows were raised at that comment but were ignored as Andy continued on his endless ramble on how everything in this house was authentic, from the velvet seats to the marble bathrooms. He suddenly stopped and turned to a door. He walked into the room silently. It was room full of portraits. The portraits all were of similar looking people. Ranging from blondes to red heads all the people in the portraits had the same eyes, a purple that stood out against the clothing they wore. Which consisted of a very arrogant and messy way of dressing to a strange red head in a jumpsuit with a cape and mask. That was all that was in the room. Andy moved to a portrait of a kid wearing a tux and he was smiling and in a chair that was in a room that could count as the inside of a giant clock.

Andy merely pulled the painting off and reveled a large hole that led went straight into a room. He gestured for them to go in. Hesitantly when no one wanted to go in first, Bobby went in as if they were walking into the devil lair.

"...this is a strangely familiar scene..." Angel, or Warren Worthington III said as the X-Men watched a woman who was sitting at a large desk in an office that seemed vaguely similar to the professor's only with a more expensive take on it. Well woman was an over exaggeration on the teenage girl who couldn't be a day over 16. Sitting was also a very loose term as the the teen was snoring peacefully with her head resting on the desk. Books and papers were towers on the desk and floor surrounding her. The girl's head was on an open book that after looking at the language everyone agreed it was written in a language that was similar to Latin and Greek. The book that probably looked to be as small as Charles Xavier liked his books to be. That means ridiculously tiny writing and huge pages that piled into a thick book.

"How so?" Andy asked as he began to move piles of books out of the way. Each book made a whole new level on the chart everyone called the 'stupidly big books I never ever want to read in my lifetime if I can avoid it'. Yes, the X-Men actually had a chart that consisted of books the professor liked to keep.

"I used to do stuff like this all the time. Staying up for days studying for my school, living off snacks and water, only getting up to use the bathroom, and ultimately collapsing from exhaustion." Angel responded as he picked up a book. It was a leather bound book that had a turquoise beaded bookmark at the center of the book.

"Ah! I know why you're so familiar now! You're Warren Worthington the Second's son right?" Andy exclaimed as he started to put books away into the wall like bookshelves.

"Yes I am." Angel responded placing the book on the shelf as he grabbed a stack and started to help put books back.

"The Complete Guide to Learning Useful Herbs and Plants in the Amazon?" Beast asked as he looked down onto the pile of books he was holding.

Andy paused from replacing books onto the shelves and gave him a completely serious look saying, "My princess' tutor recommended that she should begin to study outside the realm of normal human capacity as she already has the qualifications to get into a university and get many masters degrees."

"So I'm guessing this teenage girl sleeping here is your princess and that she is a mutant that makes her really smart." Angel Salvador said like it was a final fact as she took the book from Beast and placed it randomly on the shelf.

"Yes the girl sleeping right here is my princess and she is a mutant but her mutation is the ability to amplify other mutation though other mutants drinking her blood or taking her saliva. Being extremely intelligent is just a side mutation that connects to her ability to wield anything, from a weapon to an ordinary household object, as if she was a skillful master of using said item as a weapon" Andy said as he gently nudged said girl and murmured, "Hey...My old comrades are here along with some new mutants."

The girl who was covered in a thick black blanket stirred. She mumbled something about wanting Earl Grey tea and some blackberry cheesecake before turning her head over and falling asleep once again. Andy only smiled and nudged her once again before letting out in a very whiny voice, "Come on Princess! If you wake up you can have as much as tea and cake as you want."

The girl slowly sat up rubbing her eyes as the blanket fell off of her, and almost every man's eyes turned to her with their jaws slack.

With obsidian black hair and plump pink lips she stretched out making her the center of attention of everyone. The dress she was wearing was a strapless purple and black corset dress. It had a low neckline that forced the top of her chest to be bare. It had a black floral pattern and a black satin lace bottom. She stood and stretched to the side, obviously oblivious of the looks she was getting. To make the look even more sexy she had black stockings on along with black high heels. A black gun holster was attached to her thigh with a silver and violet gun in it. She opened her eyes. They were the same purple as the color on her corset, the same shade of purple the people in the portraits did, and the same shade of purple on the gun as well.

"Hey what are you staring at?" she snarled at them as she wrapped her arms over her chest, her cheeks turning red. That snapped them out of their trance. She turned her back to them reveling a light yellow tattoo that resembled wings. It was surrounded by dots that were of different shades of gold.

"Andy...you do realize that you led the enemy straight into my land, right?" She said as her eyes were focused on small pinpoints of light that had appeared in the front lawn.

"...I did?" Andy gave her a completely confused look as he scratched his head and moved to stand next to her. She gave him an unamused face and said, "Make sure these people don't leave this room...it can get a little dangerous."

She walked up the wall next to the entrance and pulled off one of the fencing swords that was crossed with another.

"I guess I have to dispose of that suppose traitor." she smirked as she opened the window and jumped out while shouting, "Get Alexandra to come out and help out with getting rid of the weeds that has infected the beautiful garden of hers!" She was laughing while she said it when everyone in the room excluding the professor and Andy ran up to the window to watch her fall.

"Okay then!" was his cheerful response as he pushed past Storm in order to close the window just as screaming began.

"Oh _stay here_." Andy ordered as he climbed out of the hole in the wall they had used as a entrance. At that the professor had moved towards the window so all he did was nod not taking his eyes off the princess who had simply stood up with a loose smile that was laced with annoyance .

"At least this the first floor..." Havok, or also known as Alex Summers, said ass he frowned at the fact she was outnumbered and she was still smiling. Hell, her smile even got wider at that!

A small girl came out of the house with a spear in both hands. Andy was trailing behind with a worried look on his face. The princess didn't turn to look at him but she said something that made him frown but step back and lean against the wall of the mansion.

Cyclops, Scott Summers, opened the window again and her voice floated into the room.

"Swan! You dare bare your fangs at your patron! Surely your must of have fallen into the hands of my family!" She yelled as she pointed the fencing sword at the obvious leader of the group. The woman simply sneered and pointed at the Princess and exclaimed, "Her! She is the Lady of the Mansion!"

At the last syllable all the people standing behind her charged at them. The little girl swung her spear and electrical shocks were sent down the shaft blowing the people into each other knocking down the majority of them.

The woman now looked ticked off, "That girl is not the one I'm talking about! Target the Princess behind her!" Another wave of people jumped at them except they seemed at least smart enough to try and stay out of the spear's radius. However that did not spare them the same fate of getting knocked back or slashed at like the others as the princess mercilessly swung her sword and kicked them away if they got too close. She swung the fencing sword once again only this time it was to get rid of the blood apparently, then she pointed her sword at 'Swan' and yelled, "Try all you want Swan! Our defense is unbeatable!"

The group of people who didn't get slashed stood and ran at the princess once again.

A soft _bang _resounded in the room as the smell of brimstone and smoke filled the air. It was ignored by all except by the professor who turned around immediately.

Before any of the X-Men could voice their concern or do something to help her some voice stopped them.

"I wouldn't get in involved with my sister's fight or you might get yourself killed." They all turned around away from the fight to see four men and what no matter how you looked at it, a robotic dog.

One had red skin and resembled a devil. He twirled daggers in his hand threatening anyone who would make a move against him or his comrades.

Another looked Spanish and wore a ash gray suit. He had his hands folded neatly in front of him. His eyes darted around as they analysis the situation he was in.

The second to last one that seemed to be the strongest by the way he carried himself was a handsome guy that looked to 22 or some sort like that. The thing that made the X-Men take a fighting stance was the metal helmet he wore indicating he was the one and only Mutant terrorist, Sebastian Shaw.

The last man was the real leader and the person who really was the strongest from the looks of it. With a mask covering the bottom half of his face and a black cape that off-set the skin colored jumpsuit and boots he wore, piercing violet eyes stared at them as he swept his crimson hair to one side. He was also the one who had originally spoke.

Sebastian Shaw moved to be in front of him and spoke, "Surly Charles Xavier would choose his allies more wisely next time...if there is a next time."

Before the professor could speak in response of the accusation, Shaw spoke once again, "A war is coming. A war between mutants and humans...Come with us. The humans treat you like trash when they should be at your feet. Become the Kings...and Queens," he added catching Angel's eye, "you deserve to be."

He held out his hand and hesitantly but surely Angel took it.

"Angel!" Warren and Darwin both gasped. They both looked like a puppy who just got kicked.

"Come on. We don't belong here. And that is nothing to be ashamed of." she responded, her face was passive. Northstar paused before he took Colossus' hand and pulled him over to Angel where he took her hand.

"Remember if you are not with us by definition you are against us." the man in the mask spoke as he moved to stand next to Azazel. They stood as a strong line. Kitty moved so she was next to the masked man and held out her hand towards Bobby, who took it and stood facing Rouge who merely glared at him.

"Is that all of you?" he asked, his violet eyes moving across their faces one by one lingering on Rouge's who turned her glare on him. His eye widened as he stared at her.

"Do I know you?" he asked curiously.

Rouge's glare intensified to a point where it made everyone in the room pity the violet eyed man. He stood unfazed by the bone piercing glare that would've killed him many times over if looks could hurt people.

"No, I don't." Rouge responded hotly before she turned her glare back to Bobby who broke into cold sweat and trembled under it.

"Wait. I'm going." Darwin said as he walked up to Bobby's side and took his hand.

"And what is your mutation?" Shaw asked smugly seeing he now had the majority of people at his side now.

"i adapt to survive. So I guess I'm coming with you." he responded.

"Wise desici-" Shaw was caught off by Darwin yelling, "ALEX!"

Havok unleashed his energy beams.

However Shaw seemed to be prepared for that as he caught the energy in his hands and pulled Darwin close before murmuring softly, "Adapt to THIS!" before he put the energy into his mouth.

"Tell my beautiful little sister, Resonance, that she can't continue to ignore the battle for Latavia's throne any longer...she is the largest part of this battle and that Noble will make sure that his bride becomes Queen." The masked man said his eyes betrayed his monotone voice. They were sad for a second before going blank. Azazel took Shaw's hand and the Spaniard's hand who in turn took the violet eyed man's hand.

_Bang! _The smell of smoke and brimstone filled the office as they teleported away to some distant place that they knew nothing about. Darwin shifted in between forms trying to keep himself alive. He reached out towards the professor with a sad smile and a single tear fell before he crumpled into nothing but ashes.

"PRINCESS!" Andy's voice resounded throughout the room reminding them of the battle that was taking place outside. They all turned and looked at what had happened.

Bodies littered the mansion's lawn, the ground was dyed red with blood, the princess had a fair share of blood on her along with a few small cuts, and Andy had Swan's hand in his torso.

Swan tore her hand out and turned to where the princess was before she had moved. Andy fell to the ground coughing blood out as he fell.

"She's gone! FUCK!" Swan spun around just as the princess lunged at her. The blade pierced her between the forehead and she used it as leverage to cartwheel over Swan's head forcing the blade to go in deeper. Swan fell on her back.

"Princess...forgive...me...please..." Swan spat blood out of her mouth and closed her eyes.

"...Don't look down on me Swan...Your family...Ice was taken hostage wasn't she...?" The princess replied to Swan as she turned her back to the now still corpse Which was convenient because it made her face the mansion. The small maid pointed at the corpse with a question on her face that was not voiced but it was not needed as the princess said, "Don't be a fool, Alexandra. I didn't kill her just so she would serve me eternally. Besides...Swan was a honorable woman...she would hate me forever if I did that...she would rather stay dead."

She looked up at them and said, "You can come down here now...it's over." Silently Wolverine jumped down and caught Rouge who jumped as well. The two watched as the princess stood over the still corpse of Andy before kicking it and said, "Stop playing dead and clean up this mess, Anthony."

Andy only groaned and sat up. Rouge's jaw dropped as the skin surrounding the wound began to stretch over it and heal completely.

"Can't I take a nap?" Andy whined as the professor and the remaining X-Men came out of the sliding glass door. They're eyes widened at the sight of Andy being alive.

"Oh? I see I have to explain a lot you people for you to understand what has happened...I remembered a lot more of you being here." the princess said raising an eyebrow.

"Alexandra! Have Serena to come serve our guest and I some refreshments before you come out here and help Anthony clean up this mess!" She called brushing past the professor.

"Come Professor X! I believe you and your companions have many questions for my vassals and myself."

She led them into a room that was decorated in deep colors and black. She placed the fencing sword on the mantle of a fireplace before sitting on a plush red velvet arm chair. She gestured for them to sit down which they all did instantly mainly because their legs gave out from under them from all that had happened that night.

Someone knocked on the door before opening it.

"Lady Marino! Alexandra told me that you wanted me to bring this for yourself and the guest that had arrived earlier~!" a woman sang as she smiled kindly at the group of mutants. She pushed in a cart that was piled with plates of cakes, parfaits, doughnuts, and every other sweet they could think of and more. On the top tray was many upside down tea cups and a teapot. The woman- Serena everyone assumed- poured the steaming liquid into a tea cup and handed it to the Princess before turning to them while smiling.

"Would any of you like tea~? If not I could run out and get you some other drink." she sang. Everyone was shocked on how normal she was considering what they just saw with the other maid. The only one who wasn't that shocked was the professor who immediately said he was fine with the tea. She served him a cup just as Rouge said, "A coke would be great."

The professor took a sip of tea and everyone relaxed as they realized it wasn't another trap.

"I'll take a beer." Logan let out a yawn before stretching.

"I second that notion!" Alex cracked and both Remy and Sean agreed.

"Tea is fine." Storm said

"Can I have a coffee?" Beast asked as she served two more cups of tea handing one to Storm before placing the other on the coffee table.

"I'll take some coffee as well." Warren said before giving a tired smile back to Serena.

"Then I'll be right back!" she said before turning and pulling the door close behind her. A squeak of surprise was heard and the door swung open again and Andy was there in another set of clothes. The smaller maid, Alexandra was there as well.

Andy immediately collapsed onto a couch, he picked up the tea cup and downed it in less than a second.

"So any questions before I begin?" The princess asked as she put her tea cup down with a soft _clink_.They sat in silence for a few seconds before the room exploded in sound.

"_Who _are you?"

"Do you know who that masked man was?"

"What happened out there?"

"Are you single?" At that question the room fell silent as everyone turned to Alex. He shrugged and gave a grin as he looked at the princess.

She only gave him a dark glare. Suddenly everyone was reminded of the way Rouge had glared at Bobby and the masked man. Another knock was heard before the door opened. Serena was humming as she distributed drinks to everyone.

"Thank you for waking up at this ungodly hour of the night, Serena. You may go back to your room to sleep. You are also dismissed from making breakfast as Alexandra will be doing so instead. Please take the day off tomorrow if you will...I believe that the sweet shop you adore so much has a new type of cheesecake. If you would also be so kind to get some for tomorrows dessert." Princess said waving the woman off.

Serena's eyes sparkled as she bowed and said, "Thank you, young mistress!" She quickly exited the room.

"I guess now that she is gone you should star-" Andy stopped speaking when he realized the Princess wasn't paying any heed to his words. As soon as Serena had left, the Princess had grabbed a piece of the blackberry cheesecake off of the cart and taken a bite. The dark imposing aura she had diminished as a flowery glistening pink aura replaced it.

Her cheeks were pink as she raised a hand onto her cheek before she exclaimed, "Serena's cheesecake is the best!" Her eyes were closed and that was probably was a good thing because everyone besides Andy and Alexandra was gaping at her sudden change in personality. She opened her eyes and made a movement to get another bite of the cheesecake before Andy grabbed the plate from her lap.

"Annndddddyyyy!" She whined as she made a grab for her plate. He raised it so it was out of reach. She jumped out of her seat and jumped trying to grab her plate. Unfortunately for her, Andy had a good foot and a half on her so she didn't get even close to grabbing it.

"No way! You have to explain to the Professor and my friends what is going on!" The princess pouted at that but she sat back onto her chair and said, "Fine!"

She looked at them and said with her eyes closed and a hand on her chest, "Oh forgive my earlier rudeness! My name is Resonance Marino, however people call me Princess as that is my mutant name. My mutation is that I am really smart, use any weapon and I can amplify other abilities through my DNA."

The first one to snap out of the shock was the Professor who simply smiled kindly at her before saying, "My name is Charles Xavier. I am the man that Andy calls Professor X. My mutation is that I can read others minds and talk to others through their minds...I can plant ideas within other peoples minds."

"I'm Rouge. I have skin that can suck the life outta you and take some memories of yours and if you have a mutation, I can temporarily take it." Rouge took the way the professor introduced himself as the way Princess- or as she will be called from now on Resonance- wanted them to be introduced.

"The name is Gambit, Remy Le Beau if ya lookin' for a guy." Remy said taking Resonance's hand and kissing it. "Mah mutation is that ah can charge things up and make 'em explode."

"The name is Summers, Alex Summers." Havok said failing epically with the James Bond imitation. "I shoot energy beams that look kinda like hula hoops."

"Sean is the name but you can call me Banshee. My mutation is that I have super sonic screams." Sean leaned back into the too comfortable couch.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Marino. My name is Hank McCoy or Beast as my fellow mutants often like to call me. I think you can see the reason why." He shook hands with Resonance whose smile only grew wider at that declaration.

"Scott Summers. Cyclops. I shoot energy beams from my eyes." Scott said stiffly before he went back to staring at the floor.

"Don't need to get your panties in a bunch, one-eyed. The name is Logan, or Wolverine, whatever you prefer is fine with me. I have metal claws and an extreme healing ability." Wolverine said before taking another swing of the beer bottle he was holding.

"Now Logan, that is not nice. My name is Storm, or Ororo Monroe. I can control the weather." the white haired storm goddess scolded Logan softly.

"I'm Warren Worthington the third. My mutant name is Angel because of my wings."

"I guess I should start the beginning right? Then if you still have questions afterwords than you can question me to your heart's content." Resonance said tilting her head to the side before giving a sigh and began.

"Well a long time ago my ancestors sought out the secret to immortality. At the time they were not mutants only humans. My ancestors were rulers of the country Latavia. They believed if they were great rulers they would be granted immortality by the gods. That was the truth when my ancestor Glen Marino became ruler. Kind and merciful yet cold and cruel. He exhibited that with a flawlessness that has yet to mimicked with perfection in history. So when the gods granted him immortality it made it possible for his descendants to become immortal. However the only way to become immortal was to become an 'adult'. However Glen saw that it was dangerous for there to be too many immortals running around so he declared that the remaining child of every generation or set of siblings would become immortal. He made it so that the only one that could become immortal would be the one who succeeded the throne of Latavia. The person to become ruler had to exhibit the same qualities Glen did. At that time they believed it to be the only way to become immortal but that will be explained later. Thus the bloodbath call the Sibling Wars began. Sister killing brother. Brother killing sister. Sister killing sister. Brother killing brother. That is how it went all while the child had to fit the qualifications of being Latavia's ruler. Should there be a child remaining yet the child could not succeed the throne the parents of the said child would be forced to reproduce once again until a sufficient amount of kids were around and start the bloody battle once again. That is where I come in. I am part of the third set of children my parents had reproduced to fight for the throne. The first sibling war they oversaw had the remaining two kids die off simultaneously making them have to try again. The second time being that my elder brothers, Noble and Destruct, did not fit the qualifications to be Latavia's king. I am the second daughter of the man people call King Rae Marino. I am part of the third attempt for the Sibling Wars. Originally there was fourteen of us but my older brother, Longevity, killed my twin brother, Reassurance, and my two little brothers, Echo and Sound, before he was killed in a failed assassination mission against myself. I had another sister from another mother who is the same age as me. However my father excludes her from the battle for reasons concerning her mutation...My father erased all of my memories, as well as all of my siblings, of her for the girl's safety. Now there are only nine people fighting for the throne. Despite of Destruct's size he is the oldest of our group and one of the people from the second set of siblings. My brother Noble is a redhead who also was in the second set of siblings my parents produced for the Sibling Wars... he is also the second oldest brother. Faith is my older sister and the third oldest but the first of our set. My brother Cross is the next sibling. Longevity is the next sibling and then my idiotic older brother, Cunning, Longevity's twin. Another redhead in my family is Serious, he is the next oldest and the only one who has been told straight up that it is impossible for him to become King. Freedom is next, then my twin and I, then my sister whose name I don't know, then my sister Serenity, and lastly Sound and Echo. All of us. We all were pitted against each other one time or another. And nothing is going to change that. A life of a Marion is a sad and lonely one that normally results in nothing but death and blood. They all have their own reasons for fighting for the throne whether it be for the immortality or just to protect something in my sister's case." She explained before taking a sip of tea. While she was doing so everyone was trying to process the information the best they could.

She looked at them with a serious look on her face saying, "It involves me greatly...but doesn't interest me at all."

She stood and stretched once again before turning to Alexandra and saying, "Please escort our guest to the rooms that were prepared for them. I believe they need a moment of rest before they can properly understand what I am trying to tell them."

Alexandra nodded and tugged on the Professor's hand before she moved around and shook the rest of the group pulling them out of the room and shoving them into rooms. They all numbly stood as they stared at the Pjs that were placed on their beds. Rouge and Storm were somewhere between shock and confusion. Remy and Logan took it in stride and put them on before collasping on the beds. Sean's and Angel's faces were flushed with embaressment as they put them on as if someone was watching them. Alex and Beast only stared at them before jumping into the bed with their clothes from the day still on. Scott just burned the clothes with his eyes before taking off his shirt and shoes and going to sleep. The professor simply put it on and with the help of Alexandra got on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.


	3. A Second to the End

**A Clockwork Before the End**

**A Second to the End**

Choosing to be positive and grateful is going to be determine how you live your life.

-Joel Osteen

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><p><strong>The Morning<strong>

When they all woke up the realization of last nights events took a left turn on the What Boulevard and slammed like a semi trunk into all of them. Instantly Wolverine debated whether to run for the hills to avoid getting caught up in the fighting but decided to hear what Resonance wanted out of them before he decided to run or not. That was what he decided while he was in the shower. He stood in his room with only a towel around his waist where he stared at the clothes that were laid out on the bed. He stared at them as he came to the conclusion he would where it because he did not want to go out there in nothing but a towel or butt naked. Little did he know that his companions were coming up with the same decision.

When Wolverine came to dinning room he was greeted by the sight of Rouge in a frilly white nightgown with only slim straps holding it to her frame. She didn't seem to mind it at all as opposed to Storm who wore a similar dress only simpler and with less frills. Storm had a blanket on her shoulders and was shooting anyone looks daring them to comment on the outfit. The professor was there as well, only he wore a black and red nightshirt and PJ bottoms. The only thing that looked ridiculous on him was the red and black nightcap he had on as well.

The only reaction that Wolverine could cough up was, "At least you don't look as ridiculous as me."

Wolverine had somehow managed to find his way into footie pajamas that were light blue with white clouds and teddy bears with pink ribbons. As Logan glanced around he saw he wasn't the only one who suffered the same fate. Beast was wearing a pink footie PJ with red hearts and babies with wings. Banshee wore a light green footie PJ with monkeys swinging from tree to tree with stupid wide grins on their faces. Angel was wearing a light orange footie PJ with baby dragons snorting out flames. Remy wore a dusty purple footie PJ with rainbows and white horses with wings. Even Alex was wearing a footie PJ that was a revolting shade of yellow with little pink stars and orange moons all over it.

A flash of a camera appeared in the room and everyone blinked as Andy laughed all while saying, "Fabulous! Absolutely fabulous! Now all of you strip to your underwear and do the macarena!" He snorted out before he began laughing even harder. Everyone gave him disbelieving looks before they came to the same conclusion on who had coordinated their outfits and why he did it.

_**The Plane Ride to the Mansion**_

"_Professor!" Andy whined as he turned to Charles Xavier in the plane with tears at the corners his eyes. _

"_Sean stole my drink and put alcohol in it!" Havok stood and walked past Andy all while 'accidentally' hitting the small table that held a numerous amount of drinks. Andy was now soaked. _

"_Now Alex spilled everything on me!" he whined once more. _

"_Kid, you need to keep your mouth shut!" Wolverine snarled as he cracked an eye open. _

"_See even he is being mean to me and I don't even _know _him!" Andy cried as Warren accidentally whacked him with one of his wings._

"_Ah think the kid needs tah be quiet or Remy will knock 'im out." Remy snapped as he splashed his water onto Andy._

"_Professor!" Andy cried once more when Beast let out a small laugh._

_The professor in question was reading one of the various books on the plane and had chosen to ignore his students temporarily believing they could handle each other for a couple of hours. Oh how he was dead wrong._

_**End of Flashback**_

"..." that was the silence that overtook the X-Men as they all decided whether or not they should not jump at the still laughing Andy.

Muffled footsteps and a door opening stopped all thought as everyone turned to see a very tired and slightly annoyed girl. Resonance wore the same thing Rouge was only the little princess' nightgown was the same shade of purple her eyes were. She wore a tiara between her pigtails and Storm stopped obsessing over her outfit so much to admire the large violet gem embedded into the crown.

"Can anyone tell me why office is slightly burned with ashes on the floor? Or why there seems to be less of you now? I distinctly remember more females around you guys before my battle with Swan." She sounded a lot more irritated than she let on.

"That reminds me does one of your brothers wear a mask, cape, and a skin-colored jumpsuit with boots to match and have red hair with the same violet eyes you have?" Charles asked looking up from the paper he was looking at. Wolverine felt a hand on his arm. He looked down and saw that Alexandra had gripped his arm and now was literally dragging him to a chair where she proceeded to throw him in and place a plate in front of him piled high with pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and every other assortment of breakfast he could name off the top of his head.

"All of my siblings have the same colored eyes as me. The red hair narrows it down to my two older brothers, Noble and Serious, as for the mask that could only be Noble." Resonance said as she sat down at the head of the table, Alexandra rushed over to her side and placed a plate down in front of her that had an equally large amount of food on it. However she only shifted the plate so it was out of her view of the entire group.

"I'm guessing that he had something to do with my office being burnt and that the number of your companions decreased over a span of about ten minutes, then?"

"I guess you can say that. Shall I explain in full details what exactly happened?" the only response to that question was a short nod before Resonance stabbed a sugared strawberry with her fork and inserted it into her mouth.

As Professor X explained last night's happenings, everyone individually pondered different ways to ask her how did the fact Shaw and Noble would effect all of them.

She had her chin resting on her folded hands. She let the silence after the professor spoke hang in the air before Cyclops broke it by saying, "So what? Are we going to become allies? If not then we need to find a way to get your brother to abandon Shaw or the other way around if you prefer that. From what I heard last night, Noble is probably a dangerous person that needs to be stopped or he'll only cause trouble!" Scott slammed his hand onto the table for a more dramatic effect. That caused all of the silverware to rattle along with Resonance's fork which clattered onto the floor.

She paused and said, "We can become allies. The X-Men and I, the second princess of Latavia. It would shake my standing as the only one of the siblings that-" she was cut off by the shattering of the floor length glass window behind her. A motorcycle spun on the ground next to the dinning room table and the rider tore off the helmet he was wearing. Blonde hair fell in strands framing the pale face and icy blue eyes. The person on the motorcycle was not a he but a she. The girl was wearing a pale blue shirt that not only matched her eyes but left her stomach bare and black cargo pants with matching sneakers.

"I've finally found you...My sister's killer!" The girl threw her helmet on the floor. At this moment everyone was on their feet exposing their various mutations such as unsheathing claws, expanding wings so they were no longer folded on the person's back, charging cards, pulling gloves off, eyes going white and hands to their foreheads or eyes.

"My name is Ice! Ice Swan! I'm going to avenge my sister, Swan, for being betrayed and killed by her Mistress, YOU!" The motorcycle girl took a fighting stance before she ran at Resonance who had pulled out a halberd from somewhere.

"What dirty tricks did you use on Swan!" The girl screamed raising a fist, the X-Men had a feeling that they would probably break something if they were on the receiving end of the punch.

"Hmph!" Resonance took a stance that made everyone remember that one of her mutations was the ability to wield any weapon and know how to use it properly. "I killed her from the front! Fairly."

"Don't..." Ice began to swing her arm, "GIVE ME THOSE LIES!" she screeched as she aimed her punch for it to be in Resonance's gut but the princess only blocked it with the staff part of the halberd and Remy threw a card at Ice. Both girls jerked back simultaneously and the card flew past them at the wall. Both girls recovered from the attack instantaneously as Resonance regained her stance and swung the weapon at Ice.

Ice, however, only flipped onto her hands and then onto her feet, leaving skid marks on the floor as she quickly watched the situation at hand. Resonance hissed as she jerked at the now stuck weapon in the ground. In seconds, the princess tried to pull the halberd out of the ground but was failing miserably. Remy's card had blown a hole in the wall and Remy was now silently complimenting both girls on not only on how fast they reacted at his attack but on how their bodies moved with a flawless perfection, how they moved with no unnecessary movements and defended and returned each attack with an ease that could only mean they were used to fighting with an opponent that had either an advantage or disadvantage against them, i.e. weapon and weaponless.

"An opening!" Ice darted forward and aimed another punch at her. Again Resonance used the staff part of the weapon to block. The only disadvantage was the fact she was thrown off balance as the weapon had came out in that exact moment, throwing the princess backwards as she once again dodged a punch that was aimed at her stomach.

Ice's hand connected to the ground creating a small crater. She pulled back her hand and stood. She began to walk towards Resonance who only sat up.

"How weak. I heard that the younger members of royalty were as weak as a low class mutant would be. Some little princess like you could of have never beaten my sister fair and square." Ice paused as she looked at Resonance and how she had not gotten up.

"Stand up and fight for the honor you stole from my big sister."

"That's impossible." Resonance replied as Wolverine jumped at Ice. Ice jumped to the side to avoid the blow. Her side slammed into the wall and she hissed in pain.

"GOD DAMMIT! THATS CHEATING!" The blonde woman screeched and ran towards her motorcycle, starting it and swinging herself onto it with a lightning succession that almost made Cyclops and Havok start applauding her had they not been shot a warning look from the professor and in the middle of a fight against the girl.

"Cheating? I don't ever remember a real battle with rules with the exception of the Sibling Wars."

"Stop being a coward and fight me like a royal should!" Ice screamed before she made her escape from the house on her motorcycle.

"Anthony!" Resonance commanded sharply before standing up and brushing off the pieces of rubble from the crater's creation that had fell onto her.

"Already on it." Andy was in a black jeep right outside the hole. Immediately, Sean and Rouge who were the closes to the jeep hopped into the back. Resonance jumped into the front seat and Andy slammed his foot onto the gas pedal as the princess shouted at the remaining people who didn't get into the jeep fast enough, "Stay here!" Leaving the rest of the X-Men slightly confused at what had taken place seconds before.

Rouge and Sean both let out yelps of surprise when Resonance turned in her seat and pulled a modern day crossbow out from under their seats complete with a scope.

The princess sat down on the window sill and raised the crossbow with a smirk on her face as she proclaimed, "It's hunting time!"

"H-hey! Knock it off!" Ice yelled as she turned her head to view her pursuers.

"THIS IS MADNESS!" Sean yelled as Resonance shot at Ice who let out a small scream as it landed dangerously close to where her head had been a second before.

"IS THIS HOW YOU KILLED SWAN?" Ice screamed as she abruptly turned. Andy yelled, "Hold ON!" right before he spun the wheel hard and the car took a sharp turn proving to Sean that they were not going to give the girl an inch at this rate. It also made him slam into Rouge.

"Looks like this little one needs more punishment."

"Punishment? STOP SPEAKING NONSENSE!"

"You really are a child. You don't even realize by doing this you are tainting your sister's death."

"What..." she skidded backwards as pulled the breaks and got off the bike. Her hair shadowed her face.

"Sean, grab Rouge and jump NOW!" Andy yelled as he let go of the gas pedal and slammed his foot onto the brakes. Sean just grabbed Rouge silently thanking Andy for the full body pajamas and jumped from the now open door. They rolled for a second but they both snapped up and watch the scene unfold between Ice Swan and Resonance Marion. Thankfully they had landed near where it would go on.

"What did you say?" Ice asked her voice was dangerously calm the way Northstar's voice would before he attacked you.

"Oh? Pay no heed to her actions, Anthony. Ram her." Resonance had lowered her crossbow and then pointed at Ice to make her point. Andy obliged as he shifted his foot to the gas pedal once again.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY?" Ice screamed at the top of her lungs and she raised her hands in front of her and her eyes told everyone present she had no intention of moving.

Then the most random unplanned thing happened that would've made everyone laugh had it not almost killed Resonance had Andy not acted fast enough.

The right wheel of the jeep flew over a rock. It tilted the car off the ground and with the speed they were going at, completely pushed the car off of it's wheels. The reaction was instant as Andy flew at the princess grabbing her by the waist and tackling her out of the car through the window. Only through the sheer moment of it did the princess register that Andy had his face buried into her chest when they landed.

You could almost hear the three seconds tick off before Resonance literally launched the male into the forest. Sean raised his hand to block the sun as he scanned the area Andy had disappeared into. Rouge was doing the same thing before she let out a low whistle and said, "Can't even see him anymore..."

"What? Are you not going to kill me?" The two mutants attention went back to Ice and Resonance. The princess was still on the ground and had Ice standing over her with fist pulled back as if she was going to punch her. But she didn't, instead she only responded coolly asking, "What did you mean...? When you said I was tainting my sister's death...?"

"Hmm? Think about it. People like me don't just kill their vassals without a reason. I am not _that _cruel." Ice's response to the comment that Resonance made was to punch her and that is what she did only to be blocked by a black figure. The person was Andy. Only it wasn't Andy. The cheerful ball of energy was gone and replacing him was a person who glared at the blue eyed mutant.

"You...? You were able to keep up with my movements?" Ice raised her other fist and was about to punch Andy but a _click _stopped her.

"Stop. Both sisters losing their lives in the same way...That would be _stupid_." the princess said as she raised the crossbow and pointed it at the blonde again.

"...What?" Ice said turning her gaze to Resonance.

Resonance returned the gaze with a sad smile before saying, "Your sister prepared herself for the dishonor of betraying her mistress."

"You're lying! My sister would never-" Ice was cut off by Resonance, "She would if it was to protect to you, her only family."

Ice released Andy who only stared at the princess waiting for orders to retaliate if necessary. The princess only stood, dropped the crossbow and brushed off the dirt and dead grass the best she could on her nightgown.

"You were in enemy hands and was used as a hostage whether you knew it or not."

"You...your lying!" Ice repeated what she said earlier to Resonance.

"Regardless of if you believe me or not is not the matter at the table right now. Your sister challenged me to a duel and lost. If I recall correctly, Swan told me that mutants like yourself believe dying in battle is the most honorable way of doing so. It was a honorable death. You are tainting it with your actions right now and by not believing in your sister." Resonance said eying the girl like she was going to attack her again.

Ice only gritted her teeth and her eyes were once again shadowed by her hair again.

"So you are saying...YOUR SAYING THAT THE ONLY REASON MY SISTER DIED WAS TO PROTECT ME?" The girl had tears streaming down her face as she sobbed loudly.

"That...that is something I don't know..." Resonance turned her back to Ice as she gazed up at the cloudless sky. She looked back at Ice with a small smile on her face while saying, "But...I had no intention of ever losing that fight."

"So what will be your actions now? Do you still want to continue this fight?"

Ice's sobs grew softer as she started to remember the situation she was in. She turned her back to them and picked up her motorcycle and said, "You cheater...You're my sister's killer but for some reason I have lost my resolve to fight you."

"By the way since you have no family, do you have anywhere to go to?" Resonance sounded genuinely curious about that from the look on her face.

"...Shut up...I don't need your pity..." Ice started her motorcycle and sped off but not before saying, "I'll come back. I don't know when but I'll be back stronger and with a better tactic to kill you with. Until then don't die Mutant Princess because _I _am the only one allowed to kill you."

"...I'll fight you fairly...if I do live to that day..." Resonance said as she watched Ice's vanishing form. Rouge and Sean approached the girl and Andy. However before anything else happened as the serious and cool aura disappeared and Resonance collapsed onto the ground.

"Oh my goodness! Why did I say that! I'm so stupid!" she yelled as she grabbed her pigtails and pulled on them.

Sean, Rouge, and Andy exchanged looks before they all burst into laughter.

Andy leaned down and pulled the small girl off the ground who was now pouting.

"Come on." he chuckled pulling the girl towards the way they had come from. "Let's go home and finish eating breakfast."

_Yeah, this was going to a great experience _Rouge thought as she and Sean followed them towards the mansion. Little did she know someone was watching the scene unfold from the very beginning.

"Hmm? My older sister seems to have gained a couple of powerful mutant allies. Even _I _didn't see that woman's attack on Resonance." The light brown haired girl said lowering the binoculars.

"Come, Amanda! We must investigate on who these people are!" _that girl with the blonde streak...I fell like I have seen her before _the girl added silently to herself before turning and entering the sports car.

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><p><strong>Please review and give me feedback if it's horrible or not! Constructive criticism would be great!<strong>


	4. Three Times til the End

**A Clockwork before the End**

**Three Times til the End**

I want to go ahead of Father Time with a scythe of my own

-H. G. Wells

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><p><strong>At the Mansion<strong>

Rouge stabbed a piece of a kiwi and held it out from the shaded table where the X-Men and Resonance's vassals had resumed their breakfast, or as Storm had corrected, brunch as it was now late noon. The chase after Ice Swan had taken a matter of minutes but at the neck-breaking speed the car had been going it had taken the group of mutants to the edge of the forest that surrounded the mansion. It had taken them hours to get back to the mansion after the realization that the jeep they had taken out to chase Ice with to be beyond repair forcing them to walk the long and dreaded, in Andy's and Sean's case, journey back to the mansion where Serena who had came to prepare lunch for everyone had took things into her own hands and called a construction company to repair the damaged dinning room that had gotten a tree thrown into it by some unknown force. Alex and Remy had both been too happy in making that seem to be the case.

Andy happily came over and took the piece of fruit in his mouth and swallowed it without even chewing.

"So..." Storm said as she bit into the avocado chicken wrap Serena had made before she went onto ordering around the construction workers and talking happily with the insurance agent that had come about the same time the construction workers did.

"That was so AWESOME!" Sean had exploded all of the sudden as he began to recount what had happened during the fight and how easily the blonde girl had backed off after she heard Resonance's reasoning over how Swan died honorably.

"And all she did in the end was promise to come back and kill Resonance and took off on her motorcycle! It's a good thing to cause if she started attacking the princess her than she would have to deal with me..." Then the rant strayed off topic onto how cool and strong he was all while Rouge and Remy found entertainment in throwing a variety of sliced fruits into the air and watching how Andy would attempted to catch said fruit in his mouth.

The professor cleared his throat and all talking and fruit throwing/catching ceased to nothing. The only sounds that were being made was from the construction workers with their failed flirtatious calls to Serena who ignored them and was laughing with the insurance agent about something.

"I believe we have more serious matters to attend to at the moment." he said before taking a sip of the coffee he had set in front of him by Alexandra. It had been told to everyone before they sat down for the meal that Alexandra was mute but possessed the same ability the professor did so her reading their minds was inevitable.

"Oh yeah we do..." Andy said as he dejectedly sat down at the table before shooting a glare at Havok and Warren who had claimed the seats next to Resonance, Havok so he can flirt with her and Warren because he refused to sit in between Cyclops and Wolverine.

"As for the alliance you proposed...I accept." The princess' aura changed to the regal and cold one she had on the moment she met them, killed Swan and hunted down Ice.

"As I was also saying before that child interrupted us, this alliance may shake my position as the only child who isn't interested in fighting for the throne but I am willing to help you disband the group of flies that had attached themselves to my brother." she said tugging at the ends of the white lace like table cloth that adorned the table.

The professor smiled and said while placing his cup onto the table, "I thank you for the kindness you have shown to us while we have been present, your willingness to become an ally against Shaw is also an important one but not the one I was going to discuss." The princess raised an eyebrow but kept silent.

"I was going to ask you if you might be a permanent ally. There are other enemies out there. The X-Team that works under William Stryker. They are a mutant team that captures mutants and experiments on them and ultimately kills them. Stryker is a government worker and everyone he works with is involved with his scheme and if they try running of telling others about his plan he has the X-Team kill them." Resonance's face darkened at that declaration but she didn't speak or respond to the professor's claim.

"Then there is the Brotherhood. Anthony here probably told you about Magneto and Raven. They both started a organization that is somewhat similar to Shaw's but unlike Shaw's which deals with people politically, Magneto's organization takes a physical turn again humans." Resonance's face was now shadowed by her hair giving the illusion she was very angry. The only thing that shattered the illusion and made it reality was the fact she had bent her fork in half and snapped it.

"Stupid men." she spat on the floor next to her. "If I get my hands on them, they will _regret _ever making an enemy out of me. I am more than willing to become a permanent ally of your X-Men."

"Um...Is there a Mr. Warren Worthington here?" Serena asked as she glanced at the princess, who was shaking with anger, with concern in her face.

"Oh that's me." Warren raised his hand slightly before smiling at the woman.

"Someone called for you and is now waiting for there to be a response." Serena explained as she smiled sweetly at the winged mutant.

"Ah...okay I'm going..." he looked slightly confused at he followed the retreating figure of Serena.

"I don't think I want to stay and fight this battle, Chuck..." Wolverine said as he stood. The princess only waved her hand and said, "Anthony, give the man your motorcycle. I do not like _cowards _in my presence so if anyone else wants to leave now than you can leave."

Andy stood and gestured for Wolverine to follow and that is what he did along with Cyclops, Beast, and Gambit. That wasn't a surprise to anyone. What was a surprise was when Warren came and said, "My dad wants me to come home...he saw in the papers on how the mansion got burned and he tracked me down to here somehow..."

Again the princess only waved her hand and said, "Alexandra! Take him to Anthony. He'll know what to do."

She stared at the remaining people. Sean, Havok, Professor X, Rouge, and Storm.

"I don't know what your reasons for staying are and I have a feeling I don't want to know what they are. But I want to fight to keep others for suffering the same fate as all those mutants or humans did."

The professor only nodded and glanced at the other remaining people. Sean had a sad but determined look on his face. Havok was trying to smile but was failing as his eyes gave him away that he would go to hell and back if it could stop Magneto, Stryker, and Shaw. Storm was in deep thought and Rouge had a cold, blank face on.

_Just like Resonance's face _a small voice told him as he looked between the two. They both _did _have the look on their face. The two didn't look anything a like with the exception of their pale and flawless skin. While Rouge had the street beauty look that warned others that she was pretty but not someone to be messed with, Resonance had a high class look on her that told everyone she had money and enough of it that she could flaunt it. As opposed to Rouge's scruffy scarves, Resonance had a alexandrite and diamond choker. Comparing the Rouge's leather jacket, simple white t-shirt, dark washed out skinny jeans and black high top converse to Resonance's violet, black and white dress with matching leggings and heels seemed almost madness as everyone would choose the woman with money. But...they were strangely similar. The two of them both had the willpower and strength to face death and smile. Rouge had a fire in her that drew other to her despite her mutation. Resonance had the same charisma but hers seemed more trained and sharpened for action than the other girl's did. Rouge had the faint heart that gave her an merciful nature and as for the Resonance despite her more darker and crueler side that had hunted down a girl across the forest, she showed more than enough compassion to qualify as someone how was also merciful. The two of them who both in appearance and status were different yet the same. The only thing that bugged the professor so much was Noble's question to Rouge, _Do I know you? _

The professor took this information and quickly stored it away with very intention to look into the matter more thoroughly

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><p><strong>This one may be shorter than the others only because it's filling in the blanks the best i could on why Logan and the others are not in the other chapters. Review and tell me if I need to improve please! Flamers can help me torch the marshmallows I'm eating while writing this.<strong>


	5. Death Before the End

**A Clockwork before the End**

**Death before the End**

Death is not the greatest loss in life.

The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live.

-Norman Cousins

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><p>"...Hey princess."<p>

"...Yes?" Resonance took a bite of the strawberry and chocolate sundae on the small table. The table in question had different desserts on it that incorporated strawberries. After hearing how Rouge's favorite fruit were strawberries, Alexandra had took it upon herself to make as many as she could, within the time limit Resonance had given to her, strawberry desserts.

"Where are we?" The blonde beauty stared out of the floor length windows into the breathtaking view of the mountains, lakes and forests.

"...My summer resort, why?" Resonance started onto the strawberry and blueberry pie in front of her. It still amazed the remaining X-Men how fast and how many sweets the girl can eat.

"I'M ASKING WHY THE HELL I AM HERE WITH YOU! I ONLY WENT TO YOUR MANSION TO GET MY HELMET!" Ice screamed on the top of her lungs at her and everyone in the room flinched and stopped what they were doing to watch the conversation happen.

"Oh? I distinctly remember you walking into the plane of your own free will..." Resonance said a small smirk on her face as she gently patted a napkin on her face. The only thing left on the pie tray were a few crumbs, a few droplets of strawberry sauce and her fork.

_**Flashback**_

_The screech of a motorcycle was heard and all of the construction workers along with Andy who had a hard helmet on looked up to see a female with blond hair in blue and black ride up to the mansion door before stopping the bike. The woman stomped up the steps and slammed open the door why yelling insults and curses on the top her lungs, each one was directed at a certain princess who was sitting across Charles Xavier._

_On the table between the two was a map of the world with different colored pins all over it. _

"_Professor I believe that I should take Havok, Rouge and my vassals to-" she was cut off by the banging of doors and loud swearing._

_The princess winced as her door banged open and in came a very angry blonde woman. _

"_Just in time Miss Swan. Resonance was planning a trip to Lake Vincent and was needing a mutant with strength like yours." The professor said, grinning at Resonance as she caught what he was trying to do._

"_Hmph! I guess I could use this dog instead of Sean." The princess brushed past Ice hiding the laughing face of hers from the angry girl. _

"_H-hey! Don't decide these things on your own!" Ice stuttered out as she turned and followed the leaving princess. _

_The professor grinned before telling Storm who had questioning gaze, "You'll understand when they come back."_

_The blonde girl tried to deter the princess but nothing stopped her as she called for Alexandra, Alex, Andy and Rouge._

_They all entered the plane with Resonance and Ice trailing behind. Ice was trying to get the princess to stop and listen to her but Resonance wasn't having it as she just boarded the plane without a glance at Ice's direction._

_**End Flashback**_

Ice growled as Resonance just said, "Be quiet...Your ruining the peace and quiet I value so much! There is a jet ski in the marina, go use it to vent that misplaced anger."

Ice's face darkened and everyone immediately stiffened and watched her like she was going to explode only she didn't. She spun on her heels and grabbed Rouge and Alex by the back of their shirts, dragging them with her as she left.

"I'll be taking these two with me then!" she snapped as she pulled them out onto the warm ground.

"The skin! Don't touch my skin!" Rouge hissed as she tried to fight off Ice's grip. Key word; _tried_. Ice only gripped onto her even harder and pull them even faster.

_**Time Skip(cause I don't know how it feels to be on a jet ski)**_

"Ah! That felt great!" Ice said stretching as they reached the top of the hill the house was placed on top of. She had a towel over her shoulders. Rouge only stumbled past her and yawned. Alex who had the worst stamina out of the three made it his duty to compare how he had a different variety of girls to himself for the night. Not even Andy would get his way of trying to coax one into his arms for the night, hell Andy would probably throw in his cards and unknowingly support him.

"...I see...negotiations have been broken down..." The princess' voice flowed out of the house. The two girls froze glance at each other and made different quiet gestures to Alex who only gave them a confused look and opened his mouth to speak but didn't get the chance to as another voice came out of the house.

"I'm sorry. My princess...with all due respect you should leave the area immediately..." At this comment Ice and Rouge had securely made their way onto the porch and had their ears pressed against the door as the princess spoke again.

"Hmm? Are you telling me what to do?"

"Of-of course not, Second Princess!" The person stammered out as if he was panicked. By the end of this comment Havok had come up behind them and pressed his ear against the door right above Ice.

"I like the peaceful atmosphere here...I think I'll stay while longer." And the door open to reveal a teenager in a wetsuit. Now if you were eavesdropping on a conversation that seemed to be of vital important and was using the only sane exit as a support and someone was to use said exit, then the people eavesdropping would fall into the room. And that is exactly what happened to the three mutants that were eavesdropping.

"In-intruders!" the teen jerked back and was reaching for the first available thing to use against them. Which was a shoe.

"Stand down, soldier. These people are apart of the alliance I told you about. The one that will take out William Stryker and his X-Team." Resonance said never glancing into our direction. Her eyes were fixed on the back wall. Andy and Alexandra were standing behind her as if they were body guards of some sort. Andy wore a pair of swim trunks while Alexandra wore her classic maid outfit.

"O-oh..." The teen, Rouge and Ice immediately had to stop themselves from staring at him as he was some eye-candy, lower the shoe he was holding and bowed respectively at them and said in a formal tone, "I am gravely sorry to have called you that."

He glanced towards Resonance direction who only sipped her tea and said once more, "Really, Second Princess, with all the respect I have...please leave soon!" And with that said he slipped past them and escaped the house but not before Ice called out to him, "A shoe?"

He slowed down and glanced back and shrugged, "First thing within arm's reach."

Ice only grinned and closed the door and grabbed Alex's sweatshirt that was sitting on the tanned leather seat across from Resonance

"So...will you tell us the real reason you dragged us here?" Ice asked as she put the sweatshirt on over her swimsuit.

"That reason doesn't concern you at the very least." Resonance snapped as she raised her tea cup to her lips.

"Oh? I think it does." Ice said flopping next to the now exhausted Havok, who had taken it upon himself to throw himself onto the couch.

Resonance lowed the cup and placed it onto the small table that was absent of all the sweets that had overtaken it earlier.

"Can't you feel it?"

"...Feel what?"

"If its love to me than you two should know I like my girls all _hot_." Havok's comment was left unnoticed by all but Rouge who slapped him on the back of the head.

"Heh. I guess that's why your a princess..." Ice said leaning back on the couch. She poked Havok's cheek, telling him she had heard his comment.

"I sense mutants! Tens of dozens of them! And they're all looking for blood and not just any blood." Ice's voice took a more sinister turn as she said, "Their looking for the blood of a certain Mutant Princess!"

"That's impossible! They're a neutral clan!" Resonance jumped to her feet and turned towards the floor length windows facing the lake.

"Second Princess..." The voice of the teen who had just been talking to the princess floated towards them. The teen in question was already past the door and was halfway across the room. However unlike before where he seemed normal, he had gills and slightly scaled skin that was tinted green. Water dripped off of his body and onto the floor before he said, "Please...run..."

He fell to the floor, dead, and the group got a good look at the spears in his back.

"That's a fish type mutant!" Ice said before standing to get a closer look. Rouge and Havok both stood to get closer to the other because all of their senses were telling them was get out, _now_.

_CRACK!_

The house shifted towards one side and began sliding down the hillside. Rouge and Andy both were on their backs and Alexandra had fallen face forward.

"I got it! They're trying to get us into the lake!" Ice yelled and she grabbed a blanket and threw it over Rouge before throwing her over her shoulder. She ran towards the recently cleaned fireplace and jumped in there with Rouge, just as the house slammed into the water.

"Water...This is bad! Anthony grab Havok and Alexandra!" Resonance yelled from her place behind her chair that immediately made everyone question how heavy it was.

When Andy glanced at her like she was crazy Ice screamed, "Just LISTEN TO HER, GODDAMMIT!" Andy grabbed Havok and Alexandra just as hands burst through the floorboards and grabbed their ankles and arms. Andy grabbed their arms just as the floorboards under them broke and the three of them looked at each other before Alex and Andy just screamed.

"AHHHHH!" And the three of them were dropped into the water.

The window behind Resonance shattered and water poured in and several mutants with gills and tinted green skin started to climb into the room.

"This way, Ice!" Resonance's voice echoed into the room and Ice looked up and saw that the Princess was on top of the house through a normally impossible to reach window.

"How did you..."

"HURRY UP!" Ice didn't question the princess' call to her. She grabbed the still wrapped up Rouge and ran towards the window kicking at hands that had burst through the floorboards.

"We can't stay here long!" Ice said as she turned and kicked the mutants that had followed them through the window. Several other mutants had taken the initiative and went through the water and were pulling themselves onto the roof.

"...Is that what I think it is?" Rouge said nodding towards the other side of roof. The other two girls looked over there and both took off running towards the pedal boat that was shaped like a rubber duck and was floating close to the house.

"Ice...we're not going fast enough..." The princess was sitting on the window sill of the boat and was facing the direction their pursers were coming from.

"THEN WHY DONT YOU HELP PEDAL!" was Ice's response as she sped up her pedaling. Several mutants had already grabbed onto the boat and Rouge and Resonance were kicking or hitting them in any way they could. Ice jerked the boat to the side and the it went flying into another direction. They were close to land. As soon as they hit shallow water the three of them jumped out and waded onto the dry land.

"Hey are you okay?" Rouge asked as she watched the princess cough some blood onto the soft white sand.

"Damn! We're surrounded!" Ice gave an angry screech and took a fighting stance that signified she wasn't going down without a fight.

"So what do we do princess? The odds are not in our favor."

"I don't like this situation..." Rouge said as she stood with her back to Ice. Resonance did the same as the untouchable mutant glanced around in all directions. The ones that were wet had green tinted skin and gills while the others who were not wet were normal looking.

"Kid, I believe this would've been the start of a beautiful friendship cause I agree wholeheartedly." Ice said before screaming, "DAMMIT! I SHOULDN'T OF HAVE SOME TO SEE YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

And everything went black for all of them.

* * *

><p>The pounding of drums was what woke Rouge up. She tugged on her arms and feet to confirm what she already knew.<p>

_Yep, my feet and hands are tied...literally_ she thought bitterly as she took in her surroundings. They were in a cave of some sort with what looked like hundreds of the fish-like mutants. All of the mutants were dancing and running around a giant bonfire and a wooden plank that was standing stiffly in by the fire with a white figure on it. But before Rouge could look closer at the figure, a groan was heard on her left and she looked over at what looked like Ice. Only this version of Ice looked, well, _girly_. She was wearing a simple loose white t-shirt and jean shorts. In her short blonde hair were blue water lilies that brought out the color of her eyes. Woven to be a belt was what looked like dried seaweed and the same blue water lilies. It wrapped around her waist keeping the too loose t-shirt from billowing out. Her hands and her feet were also tied and, from the looks of it, with seaweed.

Rouge bit her lip to keep her laughter stifled but ended up letting out a few giggles. Ice only gave her a small glare before she mumbled, "You should look at yourself first."

Rouge looked down and saw that she wore a similar outfit only her flower was a lotus. She glanced at Ice and they both caught each others eye before they both almost burst into laughter. Well, _almost_.

Just as they almost did they heard the someone say, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Second Princess..."

"Hmph! So you are this group's leader, Poseidon." The princess' voice bit at him with a venom that stopped all activity along with the drums.

This is when Rouge looked closer at the figure on the plank. Resonance, who was the girl on the plank, was in a white dress that fell to her feet. The dress itself had a flowing bottom and one side of it was brought up and pinned to her waist with a beautiful rose that was a lime green, exposing a slim pale leg models would kill to have. Strands of seaweed were woven in with similar roses, that were different sizes and shades of green, to create a crown that rested with her usual crown. In her hair were also strands of seaweed that entangled themselves in her pigtails. On her feet were dark green sandals that had straps going up her led to her knee where another rose pinned it close.

"Yes, I am! You, princess, have crossed the line! We have never sworn allegiance to the kingdom!" Poseidon said raising his arms to gesture who 'we' was.

"Oh? Why don't we skip the speech and go straight to the real point? If you have a problem with my family or the kingdom in general, then I will listen. But I believe the real reason you haven't killed me or my vassals is that you are after my blood. Am I wrong?" The princess said as she leaned over, as much as the seaweed ropes tying her would allow it, to look down on the mutants that were speaking to her.

"A-amazing, princess! Your insight on the situation is incredible!" All of the mutants cried stuff similar to that as they fell to their hands and knees, they placed their foreheads on the floor and bowed to her. The only one left standing was Poseidon, who had turned back to his people and said, "Up! Get up off your knees!"

_What is with this group? _Was the only thing going through the two tied up girls' minds.

He turned back to the princess as his people did what he told them.

"You are a true princess of Latavia...Fine then, I'll go straight to the point!" He raise his arms once again and yelled out, "Our clan will live forever and your blood will make it possible!"

"Do as you wish..." The princess responded closing her eyes.

"So easy?" Was Poseidon's response as he looked back up at the tied up princess.

"So...which of you wants to die?" Resonance asked, the fire threw shadows on her face making her look even scarier.

Looks of shock overtook every face as they stared up at the smirking princess.

"Yes...my blood does grant near immortality but it also increase your power tenfold before it makes you immortal. The power rips the person apart from the inside to the outside and kills them before the immortality takes it's effects...not only that, my blood becomes an acid if there is not a regular dosage every week or so depending on how many times you use your mutations." She smiled a little, but both Rouge and Ice had seen the same smile on her face when she had tried to kill Ice.

"If the person is dead then the power will increase and grant the person near immortality without the side effects. When you take my blood and are dead, your chances of being revived are slim to nonexistent...there is only one person I know that has taken my blood while they were dead and was revived. The only thing that is needed however, in all situations, is a regular dosage of my blood...I'm guessing that none of you knew that the side effects and the risks involved with taking my blood." Her smile grew wider and everyone was now visibly shaking.

"So decide...which one of you shall go first? Or shall you all go at once? Either way I'm up for it."

At that comment Ice had gotten out of her seaweed bonds and was racing towards Poseidon with her arm raised.

"So you are the leader!" her fist was inches away from the leader's face when Resonance said, "Stop Ice Swan."

Ice froze and glanced at the princess who had her eyes trained onto the now quivering man fish.

"Right now I am asking these mutants whether or not they are willing to pledge their eternal loyalty to me...!"

That stirred the crowd and every mutant made sounds of shock and awe.

"Nonsense! She is speaking nothing but lies...!" A larger bulkier mutant walked towards the center. He stood in front of the plank and looked up at the princess who only shifted her gaze to him for a second before returning it to Poseidon.

"Everyone here is being tricked by this girl here! I'll drink her blood and prove it to you all." He reached out to grab Resonance's foot but a cry stopped him.

"Wait!" Poseidon had stepped forward and place a firm hand on the man's shoulder.

"We have lost, Princess...We all wanted to become immortal but the putting everything at stake for something silly is stupid..." he lowered his head and all of the other mutants did so as well.

"Regardless! I am _not _backing down now!" the man shrugged off the hand on his shoulder and glared at the princess.

"Well in accordance to Ancient Law, let's settle all of this with a duel." Resonance only threw more oil on the fire with that comment.

"Ice! You really didn't come to see me for your helmet, did you? If you know what I mean..."

"...Shut up... I understand." Ice's face was shadowed by her bangs and she had a hand on her forehead. She moved so that she was within the cleared ring that surrounded the bonfire and princess. She faced the bulkier man and took a fighting stance while saying, "My name is Ice Swan...I am the youngest child of the great knight, Blaze Swan!"

"I accept the honor of serving as the Second Princess of Latavia, Resonance Marino's representative and challenge you to a duel!" Her face had gone slightly red from embarrassment at saying that. Rouge would've applauded the girl's bravery on facing the man had her hands not been tied.

"What a formal duel?"

"If we win this we get off scott-free~!" the mutants screeched as the bulky mutant looked down at the smaller blonde girl who had not broken her stance.

"Ha ha! This little girl is my opponent? She wont even serve as a warm-up!"

"Come and get me you overgrown fish." Ice's response to his comment stirred a reaction as he jumped at her and...

**Later that Evening**

"Okay then!" Poseidon raised his fist and all of the other mutants started to say, "Heave! Heave! Heave!"

"I wonder if Alex, Andy and Alexandra are okay..."

"Don't worry Rouge. They were only taken into a cave that was under the lake. Unfortunately for them and their captors, the house happened to block their only entrance and exit to the cave." The mutant teen- or Dylan as they recently learned- that had been talking to Resonance earlier was swimming towards them with a wide grin. He ran towards them and pulled the princess into a hug while saying, "Thank the gods you're still alive!"

"How are you still alive?" Rouge and Ice both screamed simultaneously as they jumped back. He chuckled at their reaction and said, "I'm a fish type mutant prince! My life force is connected on fact whether or not if I can reach water in time. My dad wanted to take Resonance's blood to make our family permanently immortal and make me a competitor in the Sibling Wars."

Resonance pushed him away and puffed out her cheeks, "You almost suffocated right now!"

He only laughed and scratched his head, "Sorry Reo! It's just your so small and light that you lost my attention immediately!"

She threw her head back and huffed in fake annoyance, "Men! They only take notice in a woman when she is reduced into tears!" That comment only made him laugh even harder.

"Princess...I have a request to make..." Ice said as she got over her shock.

"My answer is yes." Resonance gave up on trying to make Dylan to stop laughing and turned back to watch as the group of mutants pull parts of the house out of the lake.

"I haven't even said anything yet!" Ice growled as she whipped around to look at the princess.

"Oh? But I already know the question so you don't have to voice it." At this the princess had folded her arms neatly on her chest.

"But it wont make sense to Rouge here so I'm going to say it anyways. I know that you are my sister's killer but you weren't her enemy. The enemy is the one who took me hostage and made my sister...!" her hands tightened themselves into fist and she looked at the ground and continued.

"I know that the current Sibling War so far has been the bloodiest but not many of you have died yet. But I have a feeling that it was probably someone in your family who did it."

"So you want to stand by my side and the chances of finding the royal who caused your sister's death would sky rocket by doing so." Resonance added to Ice's rant.

"That's right...! But are you sure you are fine with me doing so? You really seem like you don't want to fight against your siblings, hell you seem even more reluctant to kill them!"

"I'm fine." The princess turned her head towards Ice and continued by saying, "Ice, you are a warrior type mutant so you only feel alive when you fight, am I correct?"

"Heh. Sometimes I wonder myself." Ice snorted out before a smirk came out on her face. "Reo."

Resonance stiffened and said, "Don't call me that."

"What's the matter, Reo?" Ice's smirk only grew wider as she added a teasing tone to the nickname.

The two girls got into a argument on whether or not Ice was allowed to call her that.

"She so dazzling isn't she?" Dylan asked coming up by Rouge as they both watched the two opposite girls argue over something stupid.

"Which one? The blonde or the purple eyed one?" Rouge asked.

"The princess of course~!" he said excitingly with his eyes shut.

"I have a question to ask you, Dylan." Rouge said as she never took her eyes off of the argument.

"You're going to ask why I chose to stand at the Princess' side against my own people, right?" he smiled warmly at Rouge when she turned to him with shocked eyes.

"If I was to compare her to something then it would be the sun." He turned back to watching Resonance as she chewed out Ice for calling her by her nickname.

"So warm and full of life. She does what she wants and expresses any emotion she wants when she wants. She radiates her light on others unintentionally and brings hope to those who have lost their reasons for living. Sometimes that light can hurt others but it helps them back to their feet and makes others fight even harder. I want to see where that light shines from her side!" He took off running towards the group of mutants that were pulling Alexandra, Alex and Andy to the shore, leaving Rouge to her own thoughts. She debated on whether she should ask Andy it but told herself to do it later when they got back to Resonance's mansion.

**Time Skip**

"Rouge! Let's go and get water guns and chase down Sean!" Ice commanded as she gripped the smaller mutant girl and dragged her away from the room.

"But I'm helping Storm research on cities in Spain!" Rouge said as she was pulled outside.

"Stop being a spoil sport and help a girl out!"

"Okay, okay!"

_**Somewhere Near the Mansion**_

"Amanda, this is where my darling sister lives?" a small brown haired girl asked. A tiara adorned the girl's head. Her hair was pulled into a side ponytail. She twirled around and said, "If I'm correct then you also get to see your sister...right?"

She giggled and turned to face the mansion.

"Big sister Resonance! Prepare yourself because Princess Serenity has come to meet you~!"

* * *

><p><strong>Review please! I know this chapter has a lot of mistakes because I did it in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. I went over it but I'm still half asleep so there are bound to me more than one mistake.<strong>


	6. Five Minutes Until the End

**A Clockwork Before the End**

**Five Minutes Until the End**

I think that the ideal space for must contain the elements for magic, serenity, sorcery, and mystery.

-Luis Barragan

"Hmm? An alliance?" Resonance- or Reo to the people of the mansion- said lowering her tea cup and placing it back onto the small plate that had held it before with a soft _clink_.

"Yes, an alliance! In this Sibling War that has two survivors from the previous War, we, as the youngest children in this battle, must gather and combine our forces and annihilate our older siblings! I actually have come across some information on how you were able to get Poseidon and his clan of fish mutants to swear their allegiance to you as well as you becoming something of a new benefactor of the X-Men." Princess Serenity, the third princess fighting for the throne, snapped her fingers together and Alexandra moved forward with the teapot and poured her another cup.

"...On the surface it seems to be fine but are you really content to live peacefully under my patronage? Or are simply saying that to gain my trust and lower my guard so you can stab me in the back?" Resonance asked as she leaned back in her chair, pushing her hair back and folding her arms over her chest.

_**Earlier in the Day**_

"...and because of these events Dylan will now be living in the mansion with us..." Resonance said while holding out her hands like she was one of the beauties on a game show.

Now that they weren't being threatened by other mutants and Dylan wasn't trying to run away, everyone got a better look at him.

The teen was tanned to perfection with sparkling sea green eyes that reflected the sea around his birthplace and black hair with dark green highlights that was natural. A normal everyday person would mistake him as a male tropical surfer because of his wetsuit and perfectly muscled body but if you were to look closely at his skin then you would see that it was ever so slightly tinted green and if he was to be submerged in water then he would probably look like he had slightly scaled skin and gills on the sides of his face. Of course no passersby would know that this teen was a fish-like mutant/ocean prince that liked to tease the second princess of the mutant country, Lataiva.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Dylan, my mutation is that I have fish like qualities! I can breathe underwater, I have a very basic control over water and I can swim as fast as an American submarine! My hobbies are swimming, flirting with cute girls like Ice and Rouge here and teasing my sweet little water lily here~!" He sang then saluted Charles Xavier who glanced at Resonance with a dangerous glint in his eye telling everyone he already had a plan to find Shaw that required Dylan using his mutations. Sean burst into laughter while Storm only said kindly, "My name is Storm. Or Ororo Monroe if that fits your preference more."

"I think that I'm going to get along with this guy!" He jumped to his feet and moved to pat the fish like teen's back but the teen had already did something that only Andy was able to do so without getting slapped. He had hugged Resonance from the back and rested his head on top of hers. He smiled at Sean, obviously oblivious of the shocked looks he was getting but Resonance only sighed and said thickly, "I told you to stop calling me your water lily, Dylan."

"Ah! But my little water lily~! I thought you liked my little pet name for you!" he whined as he buried his face in her neck. She only stiffened at that and pushed his face away from her neck and said, "Last you called me 'your little water lily' I broke your nose. And we were only _eight _then. Do you want a repeat?" He let go of her immediately and with a loose grin he said, "I hope we all get along!"

_RING!_

A voice flowed in the room from the open window, "Big Sister Resonance! It's me, Serenity!" Ice stiffened and jumped to her feet while crying, "A royal!"

She darted to the foyer where Alexandra was opening the door for a small girl with light brown hair that was pulled in a ponytail on the side of her head. She wore a small crown that had little diamonds and purple alexandraite gemstones embedded onto it. She looked up and the smile on her face only got wider as Ice jumped from the stairs into the air above her while shouting, "My name is Ice Swan! I'm the daughter of the great knight, Blaze Swan! On my sister's honor I'm going to kill you!" She pulled her fist back and swung it with all her might. The dark haired woman who came with Serenity stepped in front of the little princess and she raised her hand as if she was going to stop the girl.

"Ha! Your maid is no match for me!"

The maid in question only grabbed Ice's fist. She twisted it and swung the blonde teen to the side. Ice slammed against the wall and let out a hiss of pain while Reo walked down the stairs with Rouge, Dylan and Storm trailing behind her.

"Ice. It wasn't her." Reo smirked slightly as she walked past the small princess who took her cue and curtseyed to the other mutants while saying, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Princess Serenity, the third princess of the kingdom of Latavia, a daughter of Rae Marino and Alison Silvia."

She then turned and said while following the older princess, "My maid is Amanda...but I suspect that the blonde one over there already has guessed that Amanda is Alexandra's older sister."

She smiled and sat down at one end of the table while Resonance sat at her usual seat and took a drink of the tea that was set in front of her.

"I know you are aware of the struggle of surviving in this cruel game so I will be blunt about this. I know that this is not a social visit and that you are here for a reason. So tell me." Resonance said before taking another sip of her tea.

"Big sister you really do have the best insight of all our siblings so I have a proposition to make." Serenity said before gulping down her tea with less elegance and grace than Reo.

"I'm all ears right now." Was the only response she got.

"I propose we form an alliance."

"Hmm? An alliance?" Resonance- or Reo to the people of the mansion- said lowering her tea cup and placing it back onto the small plate that had held it before with a soft _clink_.

"Yes, an alliance! In this Sibling War that has two survivors from the previous War, we, as the youngest children in this battle, must gather and combine our forces and annihilate our older siblings! I actually have come across some information on how you were able to get Poseidon and his clan of fish mutants to swear their allegiance to you as well as you becoming something of a new benefactor of the X-Men." Princess Serenity, the third princess fighting for the throne, snapped her fingers together and Alexandra moved forward with the teapot and poured her another cup.

"...On the surface it seems to be fine but are you really content to live peacefully under my patronage? Or are simply saying that to gain my trust and lower my guard so you can stab me in the back?" Resonance asked as she leaned back in her chair, pushing her hair back and folding her arms over her chest.

The small princess giggled as she put her tea cup onto the tray Alexandra was holding out in front of her.

"...It doesn't matter. Either way my answer will be the same. No. Now leave quickly."

"Big sister! Will you really forsake your little sister and throw her to the wolves?" Serenity stood and slammed her hands onto the table.

"Oh? Your acting skills have gotten a bit rusty, Serenity...You are lying to me. You wouldn't easily lose your temper like that. Why don't you tell me and my vassals the real reason you are here."The lady of the mansion twirled a strand of her hair with a small smirk on her face. Her head rested on her other hand and her eyes never left Serenity's face who only clapped and said, "...I'm impressed, Resonance."

"But unfortunately for you, I have brought myself more than enough time." she released her hands and the far wall collapsed and in came what looked like rose vines. Serenity reached out towards Amanda who picked her up and held her bridal style. Resonance was already on her feet staring at the plants as they rapidly grew and entangled the other mutants.

"These are...!" she gasped out as a vine grabbed her leg and started to squeeze it.

"Yes. These are my specially grown rose vines...These vines were grown for assassination missions...they kill whatever or whoever I tell them to. I didn't get the mutant name 'Persephone' for nothing. Plants are my specialty~!"

Amanda had gone over to the broken window and was clambering out with Serenity still in her arms.

"Goodbye, big sister! Take good care of yourself." At that everyone was encased in their own cocoon made of vies and were getting suffocated The sound of a chainsaw started and someone cut opened the cocoons The princess was wielding the chainsaw and was looking panicked. She darted out into the hall while yelling, "This is bad! If don't leave now we're all going to die right here and now!"

She swung the chainsaw from side to side tearing through the vines that made moves to grab her. Ice tore through the vines and placed her back against the princess and the two of them tore/ripped the vines.

Suddenly flames burned the ones that had made a grab at Ice. Andy stood with his back to Dylan down the hall. In his hands was a flamethrower and in Dylan's hand was a water bottle with it uncapped. Streams of water floated in the air around them putting out the fire before it got out of hand.

"Your not bad, mutt." Dylan said as Andy successfully put fire to vines that were attacking Resonance. Dylan waved his right hand and water pulled itself out of the plants leaving them dried and shriveled.

"Tch! I guess that's the last of them, fish boy." Andy said as the princess tore through the last vine with her chainsaw. Said princess only spared a glance at them before brushing past them. She swung the doors to the front lawn open and walked towards her little sister with a loose smile on her face. Everyone who had seen the princess in action shivered as that was the same smile Resonance wore before she would cut down her enemies.

"Ha! I would've thought that you'd have left by now! You really are more foolish than I give you credit for." She took another step towards Serenity as her smile grew wider. Serenity only smirked before raising her hands.

"I wont give up on my victory that easily!" And a vine grabbed the older princess by her ankle before suspending her in air. Resonance dropped the chainsaw and grabbed the skirt of the dress she was wearing and held it up.

A dozen or so more vines burst from the ground.

"Oh! I see...before coming to my mansion you planted your vines all over the hill!" She said glancing around.

Alexandra tore the vine that held her master from the root as the older princess said, "Storm, Havok, Banshee! Use your mutations to take out as many vines as you can, anyway you can!"

"Okay!"

"With pleasure!"

"Whatever." Were the responses she got as Andy caught her from her free fall.

"Ice! Come with me!" She yelled running to the other side of the lawn.

"Don't order me around!" Ice growled as she followed the elder princess.

"Haha! Run all you like, Resonance! You can never escape my vines." Serenity said in a haughty tone as she grabbed and stepped onto the nearest vine as it grew even bigger.

"Oh?" The sound of a speeding motorcycle filled everyone's ears. Ice zoomed straight pasted Rouge, Andy and Dylan as the group tore, burned, or dried out the vines that got too close to them. Standing on the back of the motorcycle was Resonance and the two of them sped straight towards where Serenity was.

"Stupid sister! I have Amanda to take care of all physical attacks against myself." Amanda stepped in front of the motorcycle only she was tackled by Alexandra who appeared out of nowhere.

"There is one place that is 'safe' that you overlooked." And with that being said Resonance jumped off the motorcycle and at Serenity with her arms outstretched.

"I've got you...the only safe place...that is where you are Serenity!" Resonance wrapped her arms around said princess who was frozen with shock.

The vines wrapped around the two as the older princess said, "However, now that I am here, this place is no longer 'safe'."

"Big sister...!"

"So choose...die here with me...or..."

"Resonance it hurts!" tears were running down Serenity's face as the vines tightened their hold on the princesses.

"Hmm...dying with my sister...I've had worst days, unfortunately." She added while smiling.

"I've got it, big sister! I've lost! I've lost!"

The vines let the two go and everything went calm. The only thing that was heard was thunder, the sound of tearing plants, flames burning bright and Banshee's screams.

"My adorable little sister..." Resonance wiped the smaller girl's tears before continuing, "Let's form an alliance."

"What...?"

"You don't stand a chance against our elder siblings because of your merciful nature and I believe you were being truthful about making an alliance in the first place so-" Resonance was cut off by sad laughter as Serenity took several steps higher on the vine.

"...kind...My foolish kind sister...despite your age difference from the last time I saw you...you haven't changed one bit." Serenity smiled softly and continued.

"Those words you gave to me...I'll give them right back. Someone like you may hope to achieve the throne but someone as soft as you will never be able to stand against our siblings and win." Serenity let the vine go and fell backwards as a soft _bang!_ could be heard and a red man appeared in midair, grabbed Serenity before vanishing in smoke with another _bang!_

Serenity reappeared in the arms of the red man on the ground next to the group of four teen mutants. Rouge jerked back and glared at the man before hissing, "Azazel!"

And all hell broke loose.

First he dropped Serenity to the floor and vanished again. He reappeared a few feet away from the four mutants.

This time he had a group of mutants with him.

_The Hellfire Club _the name of the group seemed to echo within every mind present who knew the situation they were in was going to get even uglier. Silently Rouge was thanking whatever reason that had made Reo send Serena out.

Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, on a fishing boat, Poseidon sneezed before smiling at the dark haired woman, who normally would be working as a maid, who was sun bathing on a lawn chair in her bikini.

As soon as Andy had seen the Hellfire club he hissed and passed the flamethrower to Rouge and took off his shirt. He fell onto his hands as fur shot out of every pore. A pure black wolf the size of a horse ran towards Serenity and stood in front of her barring it's fangs at the Hellfire Club showing them that he wasn't going to let them _touch_ any princess.

"Haha. I may not know who you guys are but if the mutt here hates you and is _willing_ to leave Resonance to me to go to another princess' side then you gotta be an enemy." Dylan laughed out as pulled Reo behind him.

That was when the sound of something shattered and water shot out of the ground and shot at the Hellfire Club like water spears. Bobby only stepped forward and waved his hand. The water began to freeze over and Dylan scratched his head and laughed out again, "Oh...you have someone who has Cyrokinesis(1) on your side..."

He only continued to smile and said, "But you forgot to protect your other team members." Bobby looked back and let his jaw drop. Northstar, Colossus, and Angel were suspended in midair with streams of water griping their waist. Their hands pass through the water as they attempted to escape. Dylan waved his hand and the three were thrown towards the older group of mutants that had stopped destroying the vines to come and help them.

"I'll leave these guys to you...My opponent is the little Iceman here." He chuckled darkly as he ran at Bobby for what it was worth. Banshee's screams became higher and higher before it became almost silent. You can hear the thunder that rained down on the winged woman. Vines shot out of the ground under the Hellfire club and wrapped themselves around Emma Frost. She hissed and reached out towards Azazel who teleported the blonde out of the tightening grip of the vines.

"Serenity...!" Resonance almost screamed but caught herself before she actually did. The girl in question had a fan in her hand and was pointing it at the Hellfire club.

"Look closer at that woman Big Sister." Serenity's voice was harsh as her hair shadowed her eyes. Riptide twirled his fingers and two whirlwinds appeared in his hands. He looked like he was about to throw them until Serenity cried, "Amanda! Ignore your little sister and show that mutant with Areokinesis(2) his place!"

"You...! Your supposed to be in Russia! What are you doing here in Latavia!" Resonance said as she moved to where her chainsaw laid forgotten.

"Alexandra! Your knew target is the man they call Azazel!" Resonance picked up her fallen chainsaw and turned it on again and gave a small laugh.

"I'll watch your back if you watch mine!" With that being said she ran at Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost. Serenity laughed and pointed her fan at Emma and the vines darted at them once again. Only this time Shaw was prepared and threw some energy at the vines, disintegrating them.

Rouge hissed in pain when she realized she hadn't been paying any attention to Kitty. Kitty had just delivered a kick to her side forcing Rouge to drop and roll to the side.

"Hey! You mess with Rouge you mess with me!" Ice yelled before punching Kitty. She only fell through and her fist slammed against the ground creating another crater.

She hissed before jumping to her feet and turning. By that time Kitty had thrown another kick that sent back to the ground. The two of them stood and Ice asked while she kicked Kitty and threw even more punches, "Is she even good when it comes to a real fight?"

Rouge gritted her teeth and shook her head as she took her gloves off and ran at Kitty.

"AHHHHHH!" A scream rang out and all fighting slowed down so they could see what had happened. Shaw was throwing energy at a group of bats. He had blood pouring down his face as he tried to wipe it out of his eyes without giving the older princess an advantage in the battle.

"Azazel we're leaving!" He called but Azazel either didn't hear or was too busy teleporting away from the small maid as she would throw him to the trees or the ground every time he was in arm's reach.

The bats gathered at a point on the floor and vanished in the sky as they left a teenage boy in the midst of the battle.

The teenager laughed and jumped at Shaw while saying, "You know of all the times I have come to your mansion, Princess, this has to be one of the oddest situations I've seen you in!" He elbowed Shaw in the nose and pulled the strange helmet off of the guy.

"Oh? Even odder than the time you came while I was trying to force Andy to eat carrots, Dracul?" She asked the teen as she swung the chainsaw she was holding at Shaw. It only took part of the suit he was wearing off before the

Dracul laughed and said, "Now that was a funny situation, not a odd one in the very least. I presume your time without me by your side has been okay?" He grabbed her chainsaw and threw it in the air where it exploded from all the energy that was inserted into it by Shaw.

"Not in particular. My sister tried to kill me, I almost got eaten by a bunch of fish mutants, I became a member of the X-Men, Andy's friends are living with me now, and I have to a daily damage patrol of the house now." Resonance shrugged as she dodged the energy blasts. It amazed everyone watching them how easily they kept up a everyday conversation in the middle of a fight without giving the enemy a chance to even hit them.

"Just an average time with Resonance Marino then? Why don't you tell your telepathic friend that's inside to take this guy out?" The guy chuckled just as Shaw fell to the ground unconscious. The two exchanged smiles and nods before they took off in different directions. Resonance went towards her sister and Dracul went over where Dylan was fighting Bobby.

"Ha ha ha! You think that the two of you can fight me and win!" Emma let out a little laugh and dodged another vine. Her outfit seemed unfit for battle, a white miniskirt with a tank top and white boots to match the outfit, but she seemed mentally prepared for fighting the two princesses, one which wielded a fan that directed deadly vines and one which seemed the most alive in the midst of a battle than anywhere else.

"I will show you true power!" Then the vines burst into flames. The flame were a shimmering blue like rain drops. It was dazzling and dangerous as the vines that crumpled to nothing but ash proved. She let out a little laugh and the wind picked up.

A helicopter landed near her and she stepped onto the interior of it. As it took off again she called down with a soft smile, "My weak hearted little sisters...I will give you the same words you gave to me twelve years back... Whether it be through helping the enemy or through destroying the very things we swore to protect...everything I do is for the safety of our family..." And with that the helicopter flew off into the distance.

Serenity swore on the top of her lungs before turning and pointing her fan at the three mutant enemies that were fighting Storm, Banshee and Havok. The vines wrapped themselves around the waists, dragging them down to the earth and more vines shot out and made sure that they were properly captured. Serenity tightened her grip on her fan and the vines tightened their hold on the mutants necks cutting off their air supply. She made them stay like that before they lost conscious.

While she was doing that, Reo turned and walked over to kitty with a wide smile on her face that made Rouge and Ice shiver and back up. She raised her hand and caught the punch that Kitty threw. Her smile stiffened and she released the shocked mutant. The princess reached out and grabbed the small girl by the front of her outfit and pulled her closer as she raised her fist. She clenched her hand even tighter as she delivered the punch with a a sadistic looking smile.

Bobby once again froze the water that was thrown at him again while yawning. Giving a taunting smile he threw a spear like icicle at the

"You leave your side completely open!" Dracul yelled gleefully and kicked Bobby on the waist and dove to the side when he threw an icy spear like thing at him. However it made him temporarily forget about Dylan who made a water mask over the kids face. Bobby tried to grab the water that was cutting off his air supply and fell unconscious when he didn't get the desperately needed air.

Silence filled the air as everyone realized they had all taken their enemies out simultaneously.

"Hmph! Alexandra! Take these people to the basement!" Alexandra nodded and grabbed Azazel by the collar of his suit and grabbed Shaw's collar as she passed and dragged them into the house.

"Amanda, help your sister out!" Amanda saluted the small princess and then grabbed Riptide and Bobby by their collars and dragged them along.

The princess only walked in after the group and said, "Dracul, help them out and clean up the mess in dinning room when you are finished."

Dracul, a paled skin eye-candy like guy as everyone really noticed now, nodded and grabbed Northstar and Angel by their collars and pulled them towards the house.

**Review! I need your opinion on how this should end. I only have a vague ending for this story...heck! Please review with ideas! I got the whole story outlined and it only needs to be filled with details. I can change some events to make it so that it fits. Also if you are interested in submitting an OC character then please PM me. I wont accept an OC that is submitted through a review regardless of if its a good character or not. This is also two chapters together because they were so short and i for some reason despise short chapters...**


	7. Six Lives Until the End

**A Clockwork Before the End**

**Six Lives til the End**

Only in death will we have our own names

Since only in death are we no longer apart of the effort.

In death we become Heroes

-Chuck Palahniuk

"So this is that person who was revived by your blood?" Dylan said as he looked at Dracul up and down. Dracul was in the middle of a chess game against Professor X.

"Yes. Dracul, the vampiric mutant, is my blood knight and best friend." Resonance said looking fondly at the male before she went back to reading. Her little sister, Serenity, tugged a brush in the older girl's long black hair.

"Blood knight?" Xavier asked looking over at the group of mutants that had found entertainment in doing random things that would keep them from going insane from boredom. Storm and Dylan were examining the board like it was a battle field. Sean and Havok were taking turns trying to steal the game pieces off the board only to get their hands slapped away by Dracul. Rouge was dominating Andy and his team in Call of Duty: Black Ops on the X-Box360 that was taken into the room. Ice was hanging upside down on the window sill doing sit ups. Alexandra and Amanda were standing on the side watching them. While doing all these activities everyone would pause every now and then to glance at the laptop that showed the live feed of camera footage from the basement that held a certain group of unconscious mutants.

Dracul was a pale skin teen with dark red eyes or golden eyes that would change if Resonance was ever in any type of danger. He was a six foot four teen with toned muscles. He normally wore black and white outfits as it blended into the night easier. He was a good fighter but his specialty was information collection. His real name was Dracul and his mutant name was Dracul_a, _adding the a to make his name be like the famous vampire Dracula. His mutation was the ability to transform into bats, fly, a slight talent in hypnosis, a weak healing factor, abnormal strength, talk to bats, and to be able to live off of the blood of animals or humans if he needed to. In other words, a bloodsucker. Normally he was on diplomatic missions for the kingdom that required him to leave the Princess' side for a week or less.

All of the above was explained by Andy as he glared at Dracul whom was receiving some of Reo's blood from her finger after Dracul had cleaned up the front lawn.

"That is the title that he was given. Our ancestor Glen had a son with the same mutation Reo has. Glen's son dubbed the people who stood at his side that used his blood to fight, the Blood Knights. The ones who can die a hundred times and live forever as long as they got enough blood from him. Unfortunately for us, he was one of the first to get killed in his Sibling War so we don't know the extent of Reo's mutation." Serenity said softly as she pulled out Resonance's second pigtail.

"Check." Dracul said before leaning back with a grin.

"Checkmate." Was the professor's response, he didn't even glance at the board when he did it.

"What!" Dracul jumped onto his feet and searched the board for an escape route.

"I could of have sworn I had another- Sean!" Dracul screeched turning over to the redheaded mutant who was laughing with Alex over his reaction. He had a knight piece in his hand. The bloodsucker reached forward and grabbed the front of Sean shirt.

A groan was heard and everyone froze and turned to the laptop. In one of the screens you could see that Northstar had sat up and was clutching his bruised throat.

Resonance stood up and walked out of the room with Serenity and the maids following her. It was just moments of silence as one by one the Hellfire Club sat up and clutched various body parts that were either bruised, cut, or probably broken. Through the microphones you could here the heavy metal door of the basement opening and then several people stepping into the room. The Hellfire club stiffened and looked towards the area the door was.

In came the princess with Alexandra trailing behind with a huge white box that had a little red cross on the front. Alexandra was also wearing a white nurse hat with the same cross on it.

"Are you guys okay? I know that the X-Men and my vassals hurt you guys quite a bit..." She stopped speaking at the glare she received from Kitty who clutched her nose.

She opened the white box and pulled out various bottles and bandage rolls. She slipped one bottle into each cell and tossed in a bandage roll with it. She watched as they hesitantly grabbed them and treat themselves.

"You vere that girl vith the chainsaw." Azazel said staring at her like she will attack them any second. She smiled softly and replied, "Yes, I am the girl that was using a chainsaw for a weapon..."

"Hey...aren't you that princess girl? The mutant princess that owns this mansion? I thought your were cruel and cold! You yelled at us for waking you up!" Colossus said pointing at her like she was some attraction at an amusement park. The other former X-Men stiffened and looked closer at her. It was hard to believe that the rude and arrogant girl that jumped out of a window was the girl standing in front of them now.

Instead of the corset dress, black stockings, and black heels she wore the night she met them, Reo was wearing jean shorts, a loose white t-shirt that was sleeveless, and was bare foot. Her smile only grew wider at that and she said, "I was negotiating with another royal at the time... I couldn't appear nothing less than my best as a princess."

"Please hear me out before you comment again!" Resonance held her hand up again as if she could physically stop them from speaking. Well then again it did stop Angel and Bobby from saying something sarcastic or probably cold.

"I know that your group here has a purpose of making a new world that has mutants on the top of the world. I know how bad mutants can be treated because for the first five years of my life I had to feel that suffering." She paused and cleared her throat before continuing, "But if you are willing to put stop fighting and live an area that has only mutants in it then please tell me by the end of the week. Professor X and I have a deal that if I can convince you to stop with this nonsense by the end of the week then he won't turn you in to Interpol. So please listen!"

She turned so that her back was to the cadged mutants.

"I will leave you to consider my offer but please know that these cells are specially made to keep mutants within them. So teleporting out or breaking the bars or walls will work in escaping them. I made it so that it was impossible to use your mutations inside these cells"

With that said she walked out and left the basement with Alexandra and her white box left behind to properly treat the wounded.

_**Later that Night**_

"Ah! That was a refreshing dinner!" Dracul said before he stood up from his seat on a couch in Reo office. Seeing how Serena was absent, Andy was currently escorting Serenity and Amanda back to the mansion they lived in, Dylan had taken the opportunity when Resonance had offered to let him go back to Lake Vincent to grab his stuff and Alexandra was currently making sure that their prisoners were properly bandaged, the former Junior X-Man, Rouge, and The first Generation X-Man, Sean, had taken over the kitchen and fixed some honest to God pizza for the group.

Reo had grinned at the sight of the pizza and cried out, "Pizza! I haven't had this stuff since I was like four!" And grabbed herself a plate and began demolishing an entire pizza by herself.

"Well I'll be leaving now...I have to tie up some loose ends from that mission your father gave me, Princess." Dracul explained when Reo gave him a confused look.

"Oh fine...hurry then. I don't want to be left vulnerable for any longer!" She gave him a look before she yawned.

He laughed and jumped out of the window. He plummeted out of sight then momentarily floated in front of the window.

"Watch your back at night, Dracul." Ice said tearing her eyes off of the TV screen for a second before Alex's avatar landed a hit on hers.

Dracul gave her a dark glare and then turned towards the Princess and waved while saying, "I'll be back before dawn! Be safe, little princess!" He blew a kiss towards Resonance and flew away over the forest that surrounded the mansion. Resonance only yawned again and said before leaving, "Come wake me up if anything happens...My room is the one next to the grandfather clock just to the right of the second floor of the foyer.

_**Following Dracul's side**_

"Hmph! 'Watch you back at night'? _Please_! I own the night!" A certain vampiric mutant said to his self as he flew over the forest and replayed that scene in his mind. He shifted his thoughts to the bastards that had interfered with the treaty negotiations with Italy and France. Latavia was a neutral country that normally played mediator in situations that concerned neighboring countries. It was just Dracul's bad luck to be chosen to be Latavia's representative for this certain negotiation meeting.

_It was our bad luck that got us killed by Resonance's brother. If that had not happened then we would've never have met her. _Dracul's other personality surfaced in his mind reminded the still flying mutant. Ever since Resonance had given him her blood on the day he had died, his blood lust had manifested itself as another personality that jumped at every opportunity to get free. Dracul only agreed with his blood lust and scolded himself for doubting his luck.

Something tore at his side and sent him crashing to the ground as he let a hiss of pain out. He clutched his side as he twisted himself around to see what had brought him down. He paled as he viewed the four large male animal mutants. They all only wore pants over their respective animal forms. A panther-man, a bear-man, a leopard-man and a wolf-man surrounded him. The wolf-man cracked his knuckles drawing his attention to him. The wolf-man's giant paws were stained with Dracul's blood. Wolf-man's size decreased all of the sudden, well not really, he only lost the fur and over exaggerated muscles and showed the vampiric mutant the male's human form. He still had the towering six foot eleven height that made Dracul feel slightly intimidated and jealous by his size.

"Look it here boys! We caught ourselves a vampire type mutant!" The now human looking wolf-man chuckled darkly as he searched Dracul's face looking for any emotion that was expressed in his scent.

Dracul kept his face neutral as he examined the other male closer. He was what his older sister would classify as a wild bad boy type. Pale, shirtless, barefoot, and scars running across his face and chest like a animal had gotten a lucky shot at him, the guy held himself with confidence and had the same dangerous glint in his eyes like Resonance got at times when she got herself into a fight. Hell, they even had similar smiles! The smile that the guy wore right now was like he was a predator was about to hunt some powerful and interesting prey, the same way Reo smiled when she gets pissed off enough. The guy had light blond hair that looked to be unevenly cut. He put his thumbs into the pockets of his slightly baggy pants.

_Were-people...! _Dracul's blood lust personality cried when he had watched the wolf-man change into his human form.

"What should we do? Kill him?" the bear man asked as he moved to the wolf man's side.

"Well, vampire mutants are our _sworn _enemies since that incident seventeen years ago concerning our Queen and their kind's King." The wolf man gave a small smirk as he himself examined the fallen male.

"Let him go, Dustin." The leopard man said as he looked at Dustin. The wolf-man let out a laugh and said, "What? Scared of him, Chis?" He moved his right hand in a circle in the air and turned towards the now advancing man.

"That's not it!" Chris was now in front of Dustin.

"Ha ha! Sure you are, coward!"

"Wrong! And call me that again and I'll kill you!" Chris jabbed one of his clawed furred fingers at Dustin's face who only smirked in response.

"Oh? I'd like to see you try." Dustin had a seriously crazy look in his eyes that wiped any comparison between his princess and Dustin out of Dracul's mind.

"Shut up! I'm not backing down to the likes of you!"

Dracul was shocked at the fact on how easily they took him down yet they argue on whether or not to kill him. After all, Dracul was infamous for his old midnight runs into their territory and killing were-people like he they were bugs that Resonance were scared of...that was all the bugs that existed on the planet, whether they be rare or common household spiders that found delight in making cobwebs in her office.

"Guys shut up! Have you forgotten our mission?" The bear-man asked as he placed a firm hand on both of the were-men's chests.

"The royal family doesn't take his kind as vassals ever since that incident! He's just a distraction!" The bear turned and walked into the direction Dracul had come from. The panther-man followed silently like a ghost.

"Just let him go!" The leopard let out an annoyed growl and turned to follow the bear.

"Damn it...!" Dustin followed the other two without changing back to his wolf-man form.

_Royal family...? _he thought as he tried to think of what they meant. His eyes flashed from their usual red to gold when he sensed a killing intent that was heading straight to the mansion.

_Resonance! _He cried in his mind as he shot into the sky.

_**At the Mansion After Dracul Left**_

"Hey! You're cheating! What kind of move was that?" Ice cried as she threw down the controller and glared at Alex who had done a one hit kill on Ice's avatar.

"That was a legitimate combination attack!" He responded with the same anger.

"Oh? Since when!"

"Since forever!" Ice only grabbed his forehead and snarled at him. He only sat their calmly at first before he grabbed her arm and squeezed it.

"Whoa! It's actually soft like a girl's!" He said as he gave her arm another squeeze. Ice growled and tackled him. She straddled his waist and gripped the front of his shirt before raising her fist to punch him. She froze and looked at the still opened window.

"Something's happening...I can smell three more mutants that we haven't met yet!" Ice jumped to her feet while shouting to everyone behind her as she ran out of the room, "Don't move!"

Silenced filled the air as they all glanced at each other before they all stood and left the room. They were near the double staircase in the second floor of the foyer that led them to the first floor when they heard Ice say, "I knew it! Fellow mutants! What are you doing here so late in the night? State your region and mutation types!"

They were actually on the left staircase in the foyer when the door burst open and flying into the room was Ice with blood flying out of the wound on her arm.

"What!" She jumped to her feet and said, "You start fighting without giving your names or lineages? My name is Ice Swan! I'm the second daughter of the great knight, Blaze Swan! Come and fight me you honor less thugs!" She fell into a familiar stance that she had used previously against Resonance and against the overgrown fish man.

"What? What do you think that a humanoid mutant like yourself can hope to do anything to the four of us?" Four mutants walked in after the girl flew into the room. A panther like man, leopard like man, and a bear like man stood intimating like bodyguards behind a scarred man.

"An honorable death...for the lot of you." Ice responded not moving an millimeter from her stance.

"Heh, such big words for a child. Chris, get her!" The man said pointing at Ice and the leopard man ran at the girl. A jacket stand flew from the other side of the second floor of the foyer, nailing the guy everyone assumed to be Chris, in the forehead.

"Now It's just the three of you..." The Princess and Alexandra stood at the top of the other staircase. In Resonance's hands were knives connected to chains. Her outfit was different from before. It now consisted of a black and white nightgown that left the tops of her chest bare and the skirt of the dress fell to the middle of her shins. It left her violet eyes standing out even more than before as they pierced the men that had invaded her mansion. The humanoid mutant stared at her and muttered something to the other mutants standing behind him and the other mutants exchanged looks.

"Impressive, Second Princess." The male that had muttered something to his friends said with a loose grin as he looked at his fallen friend.

"But something like that...won't kill these guys..." And the jacket stand fell out of the guy's head and the wound began to heal.

"Oh? I guess you guys have _extreme _healing factors right?" Resonance asked as she viewed the now glaring mutant leopard man.

"Oh? Extreme healing factors? There must be another royal around ordering these guys to kill Reo seeing how every mutant with extreme healing factors work for the royal family. How intriguing." Dracul said to himself as he hung upside and viewed the events through a window.

"I guess her emphasis on the word extreme was my cue to gather information on them." And with that being said Dracul flew to the roof and began his operation.

"People like us...our worth is defined by the way we die...yet you allow yourselves to be healed like that...? We only have one life and we live it to the fullest extent!" Ice yelled as she ran at the one issuing orders. She punched him in the stomach and they saw how blood sprayed from his back as her punch broke through his body.

"YOU DISGUST ME!" She screamed. He laughed and grabbed her arm as she pulled it out of him. He began to heal as he told her, "_This_ is how we mutants with extreme healing factors fight." And he snapped her arm and she let out a bone chilling scream.

The X-Men glanced at each other and Rouge yelled, "Leave the bear to us!" and they all ran at said bear man.

Rouge immediately took her gloves off and charged at the were-bear with her arms outstretched. She momentarily touched his arm before he threw her off. Storm caught her midair and set her on the floor. Havok yelled, "Stand back!" and released his energy hula hoops at the bear. The bear only healed instantaneously and charged at him. He landed a swipe and took a good part of Havok's shirt with him as he was thrown to the side by Banshee's scream.

"When you knock him out, take him to the basement!" Resonance yelled at them before she retreated with Alexandra deeper down the hallway when the panther and leopard mutants advanced too close to them.

Sean and Rouge glanced at each other and the two knew what had to be done.

"Storm! Make it really windy in here! Havok! Go open the basement door!" Sean shouted as he ran towards the bear with Rouge hot on his heels. The sound of shattering glass grabbed their attention for a split second, Ice was just thrown through the window, before they went back to their plan. The two X-Men stood facing the bear and Sean held his hand out to Rouge. She tapped the palm of his hand before pulling back. She made sure that she didn't use his power before they launched the attack on the now standing bear.

"Ha! You think you can take us, Care Bear? Well come and get us!" Sean yelled as he ran at the bear. It roared before it ran at Sean. Sean let out a scream but the bear only jumped over him and the attack, just as Rouge let loose Sean's power. It landed on the bear in midair and send him spiraling out of control. Sean let loose a long ear shattering scream had it not been windy in the room, sending the bear rolling into the basement. The wind died instantly and Alex slammed the door shut. A silence filled the air before they hear the sound of metal against flesh. They looked at each other again and bolted up the stairs after the princess.

"Hmph! Our defense is unbeatable!" The sound of a blade whistling in the air before the sound of tearing flesh filled the air.

_**Back with Dracul**_

"Hmm?" Dracul stood on the roof with his arms outstretched as a hundred or so bats swarmed around him giving snippets of information to him.

"I see...Thank you everyone! You may enter my domain and rest their and feast on everything you find for the rest of the night~!" Dracul said as the bats flew into the air and vanished.

"How interesting...oh well I'll have to help the princess right now before I take any more actions." Dracul said as he stretched once more and heard a cry. He looked down onto the front lawn and onto a battle between Dustin and Ice. He watched as Ice ran at the wolf man and snapped his neck like a twig.

"Ha ha! Even if you kill me a hundred times I'll still live...! You on the other hand, I only have to kill you once and it's my-" He was cut off by Ice snapping his back this time.

"Your point...?" She took a fighting stance and ran at him once more.

_**In the Mansion**_

"Hahaha! The longer this battle goes on the better it is for us were-cats!" The two mutants cried as they ran at the princess as she clutched her side where the leopard had tore her dress and skin. She raised the chain and swung the blades again in a circular motion. The X-Men were currently on the other side of the room trying to get through the wreckage without letting their eyes off of the battle.

Rouge was the first to make her way through the mess and she ran at the mutants attacking Resonance and Alexandra who had somehow acquired a lance. She almost made it to the mutants before a voice called with the shattering of glass, "Excuse me little lady, but I'll be borrowing your shoulder for a second."

Dracul placed a hand on Rouge's shoulder and twisted his body, kicking and making the panther man fly to the wall. He landed in front of the princess who asked him, "What are you planning, Dracul?"

"Nothing really...Only fulfilling my duties as your Blood Knight." He grinned at the animals in front of him.

"Missed me, boys?" He flashed his fangs as he gave them a taunting smile. They sputtered out insults at the vampiric mutant.

"Tell me truthfully...How many can you take at a time?" Resonance asked as Rouge moved to stand by her side as she clutched the piece of wood to her chest.

"Without getting injured...only one." He admitted as he spared a glance towards where Sean and Storm were helping each other get towards them.

"...Alright, we have this battle's victors decided! Alexandra! Hold one down!" Resonance said as she expertly began swinging around the knife on the chain in her hand. Alexandra dropped her lance and ran at the panther-man and grabbed onto his leg.

"Ha you think that-" The leopard was cut off by the panther cried out, "What the Hell? I can't move!" He tried to hit Alexandra but his paw seemed to go straight through her.

"Now..." Resonance began to walk towards the other mutant along with Rouge and Dracul.

"We can take you out one at a time..." And with that said she released the knife.

_**Time Skip**_

"Hmm? Alexandra, please go grab that weapon of mine...I have a feeling it will be necessary in this situation." Resonance commented as the small maid tossed the last of the were-men into the basement. The princess had changed out of the bloodied, torn nightgown and had changed into a dress that instantaneously reminded the X-Men of the dress she had been wearing the night they first saw her. It was a purple dress halter top with a black floral mesh overlay and a dusty black waist band. She wore heels that were black with the dress and she had her hair back into it's regular ponytails and with her tiara adorning her head.

The front door opened and in came a bloodied Ice dragging along a wolf-man.

"...Is he dead, Ice?" Resonance asked staring at the man with a slight curious look in her eyes.

"...Yeah, but he'll be back and on his feet in a few..." Ice said before limping into the basement. The locked up mutants paled and gasped at the sight of Ice and her bloody self. She dropped the wolf-man and growled at Kitty with a murderous look in her eyes before she said, "This is what happens to my opponents, _girl_. Make an enemy of Rouge or the Princess and I'll make sure you visit Hell sooner than you expect."

She turned and limped out.

"This is what he gets for insulting the S..aw..ns..." Ice collapsed with exhaustion at the base of the left stairs. Snores rang out in the room as she fell asleep on the floor.

"Hmm? Let's finish this, shall we?" Resonance turned and walked with Alexandra at her heels with a black case in her hands, towards the basement entrance.

_**With the Hellfire club During the Fight**_

Silence filled the room as everyone considered their options. Stay with the Hellfire club and go to jail or go with that princess girl and live among other mutants. A howl of pain rang out above them and yelling grew louder. It sounded like they were fighting with someone. The sound of wind and Banshee's screams rang out as the door was pulled open. Havok stood holding the door open as a bearlike man rolled down the stairs. He jumped to his feet and ran at the door that Havok had closed the second the bear had entered the basement.

The bear-man let out a growl when he realized he wasn't strong enough to break down the door.

"What did you do to get down here?" Shaw asked after he got over his initial shock. The bear-man sighed and turned to them with a ferocious grin and snarled out, "My comrades convinced me to help them assassinate the princess."

"I'm guessing you pick your friends stupidly then." Bobby shot at the bear as he snickered at his reaction to that comment. The door opened again and two more were-people were thrown into the room. They were both unconscious and they looked like a panther and a leopard. The sound of something heavy getting dragged across carpet reached all of their ears.

The blonde girl who had been fighting with Kitty limped into the room. Gasps escaped the lips of Angel and Northstar as they stared at the bloodied girl. She had long scratches that went over her stomach and she was bleeding heavily from a gash on her forehead. She dropped the bloody mass of fur she had been dragging along and looked at Kitty who trembled at the murderous look she was getting.

"This is what happens to my opponents, _girl_. Make an enemy of Rouge or the Princess and I'll make sure you visit Hell sooner than you expect." The blonde turned and limped out of the room and closed the door. Another thunk was heard and the sound of snoring filled the room.

"That warrior girl can sure pack a punch!" The bloody mass said drawing the attention of the Hellfire club again.

Except it was no longer bleeding, furry, or unconscious. In it's place was a guy who was equally as tall and a little less muscular but covered in the same amount of blood.

"Oh? It seems you guys lost as well..." The leopard-man stood and glanced at his surroundings. The panther man stood and did the same.

"Can you fellow mutants open these cages...? It seems ridicules to talk to you through these bars." Shaw asked with a tight lipped smile. The mutants that were not locked up glanced at each other before the only human looking one said, "Open the girls' cages and that one looking one over there first." He gestured to Bobby's, Angel's and Kitty's cells.

The animal people tore at the bars until the bars broke. The door creaked open and the princess stood in a new dress. She had one of her hands on the door handle and a hand behind her back.

"Ha! What a stupid princess. Coming to us without one of your Blood Knights." The leopard man ran at the woman who had her eyes currently shadowed by her bangs. She raised the hand that was behind her back and revealed a revolver gun. She stepped forward into the room took aim at the mutant that was running at her and fired.

"No way...!" The scarred mutant said as he watch as his friend heal at a slower rate than before.

"It's time for the animals to die...over and over again until you truly do so..." She took aim at Angel and shot the winged mutant in the arm.

"As for the escapees...well lets just say they are about to get the punishment they deserve for going against my wishes..." She shot Bobby in the knee and he fell, crumpled to the ground with a cry. She shot over and over again as Alexandra closed the door behind her.

"This isn't good...our kind of mutations give us a ton of physical endurance!" The bear-man cried as he clutched his side where the princess had shot him.

"Even if it takes an eternity...I'm still going to kill you." Her smile grew icier and her eyes flashed dangerously as she shot everyone of the mutants that were not in cells. She paused to drop the bullet cases from the gun and refill it with more bullets and she continued with her shooting spree.

Bangs rang out as the princess shot everyone of them in points where they wouldn't die but only feel a lot of pain.

"What? Your saying they did it out of pure boredom!" Alex yelled as he jumped to his feet from his seat on the stairs.

"It's the truth. These people were acting on their own whims to kill the princess." Dracul said as he sat on the stairs. He closed his eyes as he grinned softly.

"I have a question Dracul..." The professor asked as he wheeled himself from Resonance's office. He had the laptop in his lap that was monitoring the basement.

"Why is it you keep thinking that you are Resonance's first Blood Knight?" Dracul shot up at that accusation and opened his mouth to respond but the professor wasn't finish yet.

"And if she did have some Blood Knights before you then where are they now?"

"This cruel streak of Resonance Marino...I believe it's a quality necessary to succeeding the throne?" Dracul ran towards the hallway that led to the door that was the entrance to the basement and the X-Men followed leaving the professor at the top of the stairs. Before Storm left to follow them she asked while looking everyone but the professor, "Why did you ask him that?"

"Because he had to know...Resonance asked me to do so in order to test his loyalty to her." Storm only nodded and ran after the other X-Men.

"Princess! Princess!I need to ask you something Princess...! " He called as he banged on the door. He leaned his head on it when it wouldn't budge.

"...Princess...you gave me this life..." He wiped a tear that had fallen from his eye. It was tingled with blood reminding him of the forbidden oath he had made to himself the day he died.

"...and I know this life just isn't mine alone but..." He closed his eyes as more tears poured out of his eyes. He fought to keep them at bay but they continued falling. Rouge exchanged a look with Sean before she reached out to grab his shoulder but Storm caught her arm and shook her head and placing a finger onto lips in a silencing motion.

"But..." He squeezed his hands shut as the sound of the gun paused and Resonance reloaded the gun with a new set of bullets.

"But I..." At these two words Resonance had killed Bobby and Kitty. She pointed the gun at Angel and shot the woman in the head. She had a blank expression on her face when she again pointed her gun at the still not dead wolf-man.

"I'll serve you! No matter what kind of person you are...!" She frowned as she stopped shooting to reload again. She pointed at the panther-man and began shooting at him.

"So Princess..." She stopped temporarily, her frown deepening, as she viewed the fallen mutants. Azazel's face was pale as he looked at the bloody mess. Riptide had already fainted at the sight of it. Shaw was trembling in fright as he watched as a sadistic smile cross Resonance's face. Colossus had Northstar's face in his large chest as the the smaller male shivered in fright. He, himself, looked scared and sick at the same time as he watch Resonance point her gun at the bear-man and began to shoot again.

"Please..." The bear-man and the panther-man were now dead leaving only the wolf-man and the leopard-man alive.

"Please allow me to stay at your side...!" Silence filled the basement as the wolf-man stirred from his place on the floor.

"Oh? You're still alive?" Resonance sounded like she wanted to put a bullet to his head while she also sounded like she was really curious why he was still alive.

"Ah...something like this...isn't enough to kill me..." He mumbled into the floor. Resonance used her heel to turn him over and she bent down over him.

"Hmm..." the wolf-man shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

"Well it's too bad you have to die." She raised the gun and one last resounding _bang!_ Filled the room before it left the room silent again.

"W-who are you?" Colossus stuttered as he asked. She turned her cool gaze to him and he began to tremble as she walked you to the bars of the cell.

"My name is Resonance Marino. He who reigns over the mutant country called Latavia, that man is my father. I am the second princess who is in the current sibling war. And I am just fighting to survive this ordeal." She added as if it was something she really meant.

She turned and said, "When you have finished looking at me like I'm the scariest thing on the planet, please feel free to tell me your answer to that question I gave you earlier, however I will warn you that I am not in the best of moods right now." With that being said she stalked out of the basement after ordering Alexandra to clean the mess that was made.

"...What are you doing...?" Resonance asked the group sitting on the floor at the basement's entrance. Dracul's head snapped up and he jumped to his knees and grabbed her waist and rested his head on her stomach.

"What...!" She turned red as she tried to push him away but he only held on tighter. He let her go but grabbed her hands before she tried to escape from his touch.

"Princess I'm sure you already know this but let me say it again." He squeezed her hands like his life depended on it and continued after he tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes.

"I will follow...even if it means going to hell or just going to your father's mansion..."

"That's only natural for a blood knight." She smiled softly and tugged one of her hands loose. She bit into her ring finger and held it out to him.

"Now I believe the effects of my blood are about to run out, right Dracul?" He only grinned and released her other hand before he cradled her pale bleeding hand in his hands before he began to drink the blood.

_**Somewhere under a Forest**_

Magneto tapped the pen in his hand onto his desk as he thought about the information he was just given.

"So you are saying that there is a child with a mutation that can enhance other mutations through her blood working as a X-Men?" He asked once more to the man sitting in front of him.

"Yes. This kid not only has that mutation but the ability to wield any weapon and know how to use it." The man leaned back in his seat and his face was in the shadows making it impossible for Magneto to read it.

"And you know this...how?" Magneto almost said something that would've gotten him killed. The woman standing behind the man with his face in the shadows twitched slightly as if she wanted to leave the place but the man only sent a glare in her direction to make her stop moving.

"Oh I know because this girl is my little sister." The man leaned forward and the light caught his crimson hair and violet eyes making them both shimmer. The man was wearing a white button down t-shirt that had the top half unbuttoned. He wore black dress pants and black boots that went up to his knees. His most distinguishing feature was the black coat with white fur trimming it that he wore like a cape.

A grunt and a small groan could be heard from behind Magneto. He turned his back to his guest and watched on the screen as a redhead rolled onto his stomach as he tried to sit up. Another groan was heard and the man attempted to sit up again with little success as he fell back onto his stomach.

A tattoo that was black and dark red dragon breathing fire was shown as the guy had no shirt on. He sat up and stormy blueish green eyes glared at the camera. Magneto smirked and said to the man on the other side of the desk, "Okay then. It seems I need to have my comrades visit your little sister..."

**I really don't like Bobby so I killed him. Kitty and Angel are hard to get IC so I killed them too. Review if you see a mistake or if you think that there is something that can be changed to make the story even better. I already have the end and I already have a stockpile of chapters... I will update every Wednesday for those who are asking.**


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